| NY Judge in Trump’s Tax Return Fight: Why Are We Still Here? Posted: 16 Jul 2020 08:34 AM PDT  A week after the Supreme Court ruled President Donald Trump is not immune from turning over his tax returns and other financial records to the Manhattan district attorney, the president's legal team said in a Thursday hearing they intended to keep fighting the "wildly over-broad subpoena"—an argument slammed by prosecutors as a back-door attempt to create temporary "absolute immunity." Federal Judge Victor Marrero—who originally presided over the case and denied the president's efforts to block Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance from subpoenaing eight years of Trump's tax returns last year—questioned both sides in a Thursday hearing about what has changed since his previous ruling. In the video hearing, Marrero hinted that he had already addressed the president's concerns last October and only new information would change his mind. Rudy Giuliani Blows Up Trump's 'Audit' Excuse on Tax ReturnsLast August, Vance's office issued a subpoena to Mazars, the president's accounting firm, as part of the investigation into hush-money payments allegedly made to several women before the 2016 election. The president has denied having affairs with these women, but Vance said the financial records dating back to 2011 were crucial to see if business records were falsified and if any tax laws were violated. In a 7-2 decision on July 9, the Supreme Court sided with Vance in the belief that Trump should not get absolute immunity as a sitting president. But they sent the case back to the lower courts for a final decision on the specific subpoena issue. That decision means Trump's legal team has the right to delay the release of his records before the case is ultimately resolved—which could happen after the November presidential election. On Thursday, William Consovoy, one of the president's lawyers, pushed back against Marrero's skepticism, arguing that Vance's "wildly over-broad subpoena" was not tailored to the DA's original investigation and was instead "copied verbatim" from the congressional committees who also sought Trump's tax returns. He said Trump "is still reviewing the subpoena" and his team has not yet decided what arguments they plan to raise in an amended complaint against Vance's request. Calling the legal action a "fishing expedition," Consovoy argued Trump was "a target for political reasons."Supremes: NY Can Get Trump's Tax Returns, but Not House DemsHe added that while Marrero allowed Vance's investigation into whether Trump and his company violated state laws with hush-money payments, he must now "focus on the subpoena itself" and narrow its scope.Assistant District Attorney Carey Dunne hit back, arguing that the president's legal team did not offer "a single recitation of a single new fact" that would sway the judge's original ruling, and stressed that "justice delayed is justice denied.""What the president's lawyer is seeking here is delay," Dunne said, adding that the president achieves some sort of "absolute immunity" with each day that goes by. "This lawsuit has delayed our collection of evidence. We accept that the president has the right to articulate any new claims, except constitutional immunity. But there's no special heightened standard. It's like he's a CEO."While the federal judge made no rulings on Thursday, he endorsed the schedule the two legal parties had previously agreed on. The president will make whatever arguments he wants about the subpoena in a hearing later this month."Our office's position, your honor, is, 'bring it on,'" Dunne said Thursday. The hearing came a day after Trump's lawyers, in a joint submission memo with the DA's office, renewed their year-long effort to block or narrow Vance's access to the president's records. In the memo, the lawyers argued Vance's subpoena was politically motivated and too broad. "The President should not be required, for example, to litigate the subpoena's breadth or whether it was issued in bad faith without understanding the nature and scope of the investigation and why the District Attorney needs all of the documents he has demanded," the president's lawyers said in the 10-page memo. "The parties likely will disagree about the appropriate scope of discovery."Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance's Trump Case Hinges on Tax ReturnsTrump has been refusing to release his tax returns for years, overturning a precedent set by the previous six presidents. He argued in federal district court in New York that he couldn't be subpoenaed in a criminal case because he is a sitting president. The president lost several bids last year in lower courts to stop the subpoenas."Shunning the concept of the inviolability of the person of the King of England and the bounds of the monarch's protective screen covering the Crown's actions from legal scrutiny, the Founders disclaimed any notion that the Constitution generally conferred similarly all-encompassing immunity upon the president," Marrero wrote in an October 2019 opinion denying Trump's block and reminding the president's legal team that the president is not royalty. Similar to his argument against the slew of congressional committees who wanted his finance records, Trump argued that the legal move tried "to compel the production of an enormous swath of the president's personal financial information." His legal team slammed Vance for "pointedly refus[ing] to eliminate the president as a target for indictment."On Thursday, Dunne stressed the president's lawyers have had over a year to dig into the facts of their investigation and there was no "attempt to harass." He also stressed that their request for the subpoena does not burden Article II of the Constitution—which establishes the executive branch of the federal government. He said that there is no burden because "the Mazars subpoena is not even served on the president. He's not the one responding to it.""Now that the immunity claims are gone, he does not even have standing for claims that belong only to Mazars. I do not think discovery will be necessary," Dunne said. A day after the July 9 Supreme Court victory, Marrero asked both Trump's lawyers and the district attorney teams to inform him of whether further action was needed in light of the landmark decision. Trump's lawyers, in the Wednesday memo, revealed they plan to argue Vance's subpoena should be blocked, while the district attorney told Marrero that the president's team is trying to blow past the limitations of the Supreme Court ruling. Both parties, however, agreed the president should make new challenges to the subpoena by July 27."It is the president's position that further proceedings are necessary," Trump's lawyers said in the memo. "In those proceedings, the president will file a second amended complaint in which he will raise arguments that the Supreme Court held that he may make on remand."On Wednesday, Vance's office also asked Marrero in the joint memo to order the president to file any additional arguments as soon as possible in order to not lose evidence "as a result of fading memories or lost documents and the risk that applicable statutes of limitations could expire." The District Attorney's Office also asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to immediately release its ruling to lower federal courts, warning that delaying a process that normally takes up to 25 days could thwart the ability for filing of criminal charges."If the president has anything left to say the ball is now in his court," the district attorney's office wrote. 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. 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| UN official: Catastrophe looming from oil tanker off Yemen Posted: 15 Jul 2020 04:51 PM PDT  The U.N. environment chief said Wednesday that "time is running out" to avert an environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe from a deteriorating oil tanker loaded with 1.1 million barrels of crude oil that is moored off the coast of Yemen. Inger Andersen told the U.N. Security Council that an oil spill from the FSO Safer, which hasn't been maintained for over five years, would wreck ecosystems and livelihoods for decades. Houthi rebels, who control the area where the ship is moored, have denied U.N. inspectors access to the vessel so they could assess the damage and look for ways to secure the tanker by unloading the oil and pulling the ship to safety.
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| 'You're not welcome here.' The painful racial reckoning playing out in a Wendy's parking lot Posted: 15 Jul 2020 03:25 PM PDT  The death of an 8-year-girl near a Wendy's fast-food restaurant that was taken over by protesters after the shooting of Rayshard Brooks has left this city, already bruised after weeks of protests against racial inequality, grappling with how to bring about lasting, meaningful change.
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| Flight delay melee: Spirit passengers arrested after kicking and punching employees and tossing phones, food and shoes at them Posted: 15 Jul 2020 01:27 PM PDT  Three Philadelphia women who were mad about a flight delay were arrested at Fort Lauderdale Airport after kicking and throwing items at Spirit staff.
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| Zambia health minister denies corruption charges in court Posted: 16 Jul 2020 04:40 AM PDT |
| 'Things have not gone according to plan': America's coronavirus reopening falls apart Posted: 15 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  States and localities across the US are backtracking amid a patchwork response as Covid-19 continues to rageIn echoes of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, some American states and localities are reversing economic reopenings after spread of the coronavirus accelerated in some regions.America's Sun Belt, the region extending from southern California to Florida, has been particularly hard-hit, and now further flung and less populous states are joining the ranks rolling back reopenings.New Mexico again banned indoor dining. Nevada closed bars in counties with major outbreaks. And Oregon, in the Pacific north-west, banned private indoor gatherings of more than 10 people. Arizona and Texas reimposed restrictions on indoor dining and bars in early July.California, the most populous state, dramatically expanded restrictions. Indoor operations of theaters, wineries, restaurants and bars were all stopped this week. In addition, some of the nation's largest school districts have announced classes will be virtual this fall. Students in Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta will not have in-person classes."The reopening plan was great if everything went well," the Miami mayor, Francis X Suarez, told the Republican Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, at a public roundtable Tuesday. "But I think the fact is things have not gone according to plan.""If things do not improve quickly … I think we're going to be under a significant amount of pressure" to shut down, Suarez said.Florida closed indoor dining in late June but has persisted with other reopening plans. DeSantis called on schools to reopen in a few weeks, and Disney World reopened some of its parks to thousands of visitors on Saturday.> "If you're not in an at-risk group you could still be an asymptomatic carrier" says @GovRonDeSantis at Miami event pic.twitter.com/1Xtj7EU8MT> > — Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) July 14, 2020Republican officials moved the national convention, where Donald Trump will formally accept the nomination of his party, from North Carolina to Florida to avoid social distancing and mask requirements. But with cases rising, officials moved the biggest events outdoors, the New York Times reported.Louisiana, an early center of outbreaks after Mardi Gras this spring, has again seen a spike in Covid-19 cases. Vice-president Mike Pence traveled to the state on Tuesday but was not greeted by one of its top officials, attorney general Jeff Landry, who tested positive for Covid-19 despite showing no symptoms.The governor, John Bel Edwards, enacted a statewide mask mandate for people aged eight and older, which took effect Monday. He also returned bars to takeout and delivery only. Restaurants, casinos, gyms, salons and other businesses remain open, with occupancy restrictions.But America's vast landscape and varied politics means even as many states across the south and west roll back reopening, places whose overburdened health systems became emblematic of the perils of Covid-19 have continued to reopen.The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, will allow malls to reopen in some parts of the state. New York City hit a hopeful milestone on Saturday: for the first time since 11 March, no one died of coronavirus."It's something that should make us hopeful, but it's very hard to take a victory lap because we know we have so much more ahead," said the mayor, Bill de Blasio, on Monday, according to NPR. "This disease is far from beaten." While New York state announced only 677 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, Florida reported more than 15,000.In contrast to states in the south and west, some parts of the north-eastern economy never reopened. In New York City, Broadway shows are likely to remain closed until at least this winter, and indoor dining is still banned.Across the river in New Jersey, gyms remain closed. Indoor dining in New Jersey was slated to reopen at very limited capacity, but the proposal was rolled back after photos emerged of unmasked crowds at beach bars on the Jersey shore.Unlike in states such as New York, which has metrics that would trigger closures if the virus began to spread, Miami mayors said Florida had no such plan.Renewed restrictions in the south and west have also brought renewed frustration. In New Mexico, businesses forced to close their doors again protested against the governor's order. "At some point you have to protect your livelihood," Kathy Diaz, owner of Monroe's Restaurant, told local news station KOB4.Parents of schoolchildren in Jacksonville, Florida, called for school reopenings, and anti-mask protesters have organized demonstrations against local mask mandates.Marlyn Hoilette, a nurse who spent four months working in the Covid-19 unit of her Florida hospital until testing positive recently, said she worries about returning to work."Nurses are getting sick, nursing assistants are getting sick and my biggest fear is that it seems we want to return folks to work even without a negative test," said Hoilette, who works at Palms West hospital in Loxahatchee, Florida. "It's just a matter of time before you wipe the other staff out if you're contagious, so that is a big problem."
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| Airbnb told employees it's resuming plans to go public as business slowly bounces back Posted: 15 Jul 2020 09:15 PM PDT  "When the market is ready, we will be ready, because Airbnb was down but we were not out," CEO Brian Chesky told employees.
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| City removes statue of BLM protester that took slave trader's place Posted: 16 Jul 2020 03:02 AM PDT  "It's something to feel proud of, to have a sense of belonging, because we actually do belong here and we're not going anywhere," said the protester who inspired the statue.
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| 'Disturbing': Trump USPS head announces major changes, amid calls to increase service for mail-in voting Posted: 16 Jul 2020 10:14 AM PDT  The new head of the United States Postal Service (USPS) has established some major operational changes in a Monday memo, including slowed mail delivery in an effort to cut costs.Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major donor to President Donald Trump, took over the mail service last month and has since enacted "difficult" changes to help the USPS financial situation.
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| Jeffrey Epstein was "a sick pedophile" but Ghislaine Maxwell "was the mastermind," accuser claims Posted: 16 Jul 2020 06:23 AM PDT  In her first interview since Ghislaine Maxwell was denied bail, alleged Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre spoke with Gayle King, claiming that Maxwell could have video tapes of "very well-known" government officials, politicians, and even royals who would be unhappy "if she squeals." Giuffre called Epstein a "sick pedophile," but said it's Maxwell who "was the mastermind."
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| Berkeley moves toward removing police from traffic stops Posted: 15 Jul 2020 07:59 AM PDT  After hours of emotional public testimony and a middle-of-the-night vote by Berkeley leaders, the progressive California city is moving forward with a novel proposal to replace police with unarmed civilians during traffic stops in a bid to curtail racial profiling. The City Council early Wednesday approved a police reform proposal that calls for a public committee to hash out details of a new Berkeley Police Department that would not respond to calls involving people experiencing homelessness or mental illness. The committee also would pursue creating a separate department to handle transportation planning and enforcing parking and traffic laws.
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| Kamala Harris made her mark confronting Joe Biden. Could they end up as running mates? Posted: 16 Jul 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' debate confrontation over race still echoes a year later as Biden weighs his vice presidential pick.
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| Ex-Pemex boss faces hearing over graft charges on return to Mexico Posted: 16 Jul 2020 09:33 AM PDT  A former boss of Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos faces an initial court hearing on Friday, an official said, as he lands in Mexico from Spain to answer corruption charges that could engulf leaders of the last government. Emilio Lozoya has been charged with bribery and money laundering dating back to his 2012-16 tenure at the helm of the firm known as Pemex. Under Mexican law, Lozoya, 45, must make an initial statement to a judge once he enters the country.
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| Florida breaks single-day coronavirus death toll record, still has no mask mandate Posted: 16 Jul 2020 11:19 AM PDT  Florida's coronavirus problem keeps getting worse.The state reported its highest-ever single-day death toll on Thursday, with 156 people reported dead from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. The numbers have Miami, recently called the "new epicenter of the pandemic," considering mandatory lockdowns, but Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) doesn't seem inclined to push many statewide restrictions at all.Thursday marked the second time this week Florida broke its coronavirus death toll record, with 132 people reported dead on Tuesday. The state's death toll now sits at 4,677. A total of 13,965 people tested positive for COVID-19 over the past day as well, putting Florida's total case numbers at 315,775.Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Thursday he was planning to meet with business leaders to weigh "the possibility of a future lockdown" if these numbers don't improve soon, the Miami Herald reports. Suarez specifically raised concerns about hospitals and ICU beds filling up. Yet the state as a whole still has relatively relaxed social distancing guidelines, and no mandatory mask order, putting it behind the restrictive measures New York took to eventually cut its massive coronavirus spread.More stories from theweek.com Maryland's GOP governor publishes a scathing indictment of Trump's coronavirus response Trump attacks Biden's housing desegregation proposal as a plot to 'abolish our suburbs' Donald Trump is destroying the Post Office
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| Sen. Tammy Duckworth finally lifts her block against 1,123 military promotions after reassurances that Alexander Vindman was not retaliated against by the Army Posted: 14 Jul 2020 06:05 PM PDT  Sen. Tammy Duckworth effectively stalled the promotions and demanded an answer on whether Vindman's promotion was sandbagged by the military.
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| Fox Host Neil Cavuto Cuts Away From Trump Speech to Note It ‘Mischaracterized’ Obama’s Record Posted: 16 Jul 2020 03:36 PM PDT  Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto cut into a White House speech by President Donald Trump on Thursday to once again correct some mischaracterizations the president made, specifically over former President Barack Obama's economic record, which Cavuto noted was very solid.In what was yet another campaign-type speech on White House grounds, the president blasted regulations put in place by the Obama administration in the wake of the 2008 recession, claiming the former president had destroyed jobs in the process.While the speech aired live on Fox News, Cavuto cut away in order to issue a fact-check for his viewers."I do want to clarify a couple of things he said, that no president in history has cut regulations as much as he has. That is true," he noted, adding: "I think [Trump] might have mischaracterized the regulations that were added under Barack Obama."Cavuto, who regularly draws Trump's ire for his critical coverage, pointed out that his audience "might recall we had this little thing called the financial meltdown" and that many of the regulations were put in place to prevent banks from selling risky mortgage securities, which helped cause the financial crisis.The veteran Fox anchor then dispelled the notion that the post-meltdown regulations damaged the economy under Obama."The unemployment rate did, under Barack Obama, go down from a high of 10 percent to around 4.7 percent," Cavuto stated. "President Trump, of course, sent that even lower, eventually getting us down to a 3.5 percent unemployment rate. But I didn't want to leave you with the impression that during those eight years when Obama first came into office and we were bleeding about a million jobs a month that that was standard fare and that characterized the whole eight years."Additionally, the Fox host said, "it was not a disaster under Barack Obama," pointing out that the Dow Jones tripled during the 44th president's tenure and that companies did "very well.""Americans did very, very well," he concluded. "So I just want to put that in some context here."Fox News Host Grills Betsy DeVos on 'Reckless' Plan to Reopen SchoolsRead 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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| River Nile dam: Sudan blasts 'unilateral' move as Ethiopia dam fills Posted: 16 Jul 2020 01:38 PM PDT  As talks fail with Ethiopia, Sudan says water levels drop downstream and Egypt demands "clarification".
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| African American History Museum Publishes Graphic Linking ‘Rational Linear Thinking,’ ‘Nuclear Family’ to White Culture Posted: 15 Jul 2020 12:46 PM PDT  The National Museum of African American History and Culture has published a graphic on its website that suggests concepts such as "rational linear thinking," the "nuclear family," and an emphasis on "hard work" are specific to "white culture."The article, titled "Talking About Race," delves into white privilege and "the way that white people, their customs, culture, and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups" are "compared.""Whiteness and the normalization of white racial identity throughout America's history have created a culture where nonwhite persons are seen as inferior or abnormal," the article reads.The accompanying graphic describes "white culture" as adopting certain aspects and assumptions, such a "work before play" attitude and the belief that "hard work is the key to success." The "nuclear family," described as a mother, father, and 2.3 children, is the "ideal social unit" embraced by white culture, the graphic says.White culture also emphasizes respect for authority, delayed gratification, self-reliance, independence and autonomy, the value of property rights and ownership, progress, planning for the future, politeness, and decision-making, according to the graphic.> The National Museum of African American History & Culture wants to make you aware of certain signs of whiteness: Individualism, hard work, objectivity, the nuclear family, progress, respect for authority, delayed gratification, more. (via @RpwWilliams)https://t.co/k9X3u4Suas pic.twitter.com/gWYOeEh4vu> > -- Byron York (@ByronYork) July 15, 2020 The graphic cites data from a 1990 paper by Judith H. Katz titled, "Some Aspects and Assumptions of White Culture in the United States."Since 2007, Katz has worked as an advisor for a nonprofit organization called Net Impact, which says it partners with some of the country's most powerful companies, including ExxonMobil, 3M, McDonalds, the Coca-Cola Company, Starbucks, Microsoft, the Walt Disney Company, Bank of America, Monsanto, and Nestlé Waters North America.The company also partners with the U.S. National Park Service, which the group listed as having contributed more than $100,000 to the organization during fiscal year 2013.Net Impact focuses on promoting "equity and inclusion" and "working across sectors for a more just and sustainable world," and runs chapters across the globe on university campuses, in cities, and in companies."We believe in the power of the business sector to drive social and environmental change, and we welcome a variety of companies to partner with us," Net Impact says on its website.The National Museum of African American History & Culture did not respond immediately to a request for comment on whether it stands by the assertions made in the graphic.
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| Brazil tops 2 million coronavirus cases, with 76,000 dead Posted: 16 Jul 2020 11:27 AM PDT  Since late May, three months after Brazil's first reported case of the coronavirus, it has recorded more than 1,000 daily deaths on average in a gruesome plateau that has yet to tilt downward. On Thursday evening, the federal health ministry reported that the country had passed 2 million confirmed cases of virus infections and 76,000 deaths. Experts blame denial of the virus' deadly potential by President Jair Bolsonaro and lack of national coordination combined with scattershot responses by city and state governments, with some reopening earlier than health experts recommended.
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| Bangladesh hospital owner arrested over fake coronavirus test results Posted: 15 Jul 2020 08:40 PM PDT  A Bangladesh hospital owner accused of issuing thousands of fake negative coronavirus test results to patients at his two clinics was arrested on Wednesday while trying to flee to India in a burqa, police said. The arrest marked the end of a nine-day manhunt for Mohammad Shahed over allegations of giving fake certificates to patients saying they were virus free without even testing them. Mr Shahed, 42, was one of more than a dozen people detained by authorities over the past few days in connection with the scam. Experts warn the false documents have worsened the already dire virus situation in the country of 168 million people by casting doubt about the veracity of certificates issued by clinics. "He was arrested from the bank of a border river as he was trying to flee to India. He was wearing a burqa," Rapid Action Battalion spokesman Colonel Ashique Billah told AFP. "His hospitals carried out 10,500 coronavirus tests, out of which 4,200 were genuine and the rest, 6,300 test reports, were given without conducting tests." Mr Shahed is also accused of charging for the certificates and virus treatments even though he had agreed with the government that his hospitals in the capital Dhaka would provide free care. A well-known doctor and her husband were also arrested by police and accused of issuing thousands of fake virus certificates at their Dhaka laboratory. The alleged scams could badly hurt migrant workers seeking to go abroad and whose remittances are key to Bangladesh's economy, said Shakirul Islam of migrant rights group OKUP. Italy last week suspended flights to Rome from Bangladesh to stem the spate of coronavirus cases within the community. Several passengers arriving from Dhaka had tested positive for Covid-19. "Some of the Bangladeshis who were tested positive in Italy were allegedly carrying negative Covid certificates from Bangladesh," Shakirul Islam claimed. "The government must ensure quality of Covid-19 tests in local laboratories for the sake of its overseas job market." Nearly $19 billion was sent back to Bangladesh by an estimated 12 million migrant workers last year, according to the central bank. Bangladesh has reported just more than 193,000 infections and 2,457 deaths so far. But medical experts say the real figures are likely much higher because so little testing has been carried out. The impoverished country has restarted economic activities after lifting a months-long virus lockdown at the end of May, even as the number of cases continues to rise.
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| Gokada app founder died of multiple stab wounds, NY medical examiner says Posted: 16 Jul 2020 12:53 PM PDT  The body of Fahim Saleh, 33-year-old founder of the popular motorbike-hailing app Gokada, was discovered in his apartment on Tuesday afternoon, police say. Security camera video showed Saleh in the apartment building's elevator with a man in a dark suit, mask and gloves, the media reports said. Video footage showed the suspect following Saleh into the seventh-story apartment, where a struggle began.
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| Divided 5-4 Supreme Court clears way for 2nd federal execution his week Posted: 16 Jul 2020 12:35 AM PDT  The Supreme Court voted 5-4 early Thursday to clear the way for the execution of Wesley Ira Purkey, lifting two injunctions that had temporarily halted the second federal execution in 17 years. Purkey was convicted of the grisly rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in 1998, and his lawyers had argued his dementia was so advanced now he "no longer has a rational understanding of why the government plans to execute him." The same five conservative justices who had allowed the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee on Tuesday did not find that argument persuasive.Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent that "proceeding with Purkey's execution now, despite the grave questions and factual findings regarding his mental competency, casts a shroud of constitutional doubt over the most irrevocable of injuries." Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer joined her dissent. Lee had been strapped to the execution gurney for several hours while the high court weighed his appeal, and when the Supreme Court gave the green light, he was quickly injected with pentobarbital. Purkey's execution will likely take place in a similarly expedited fashion.More stories from theweek.com Maryland's GOP governor publishes a scathing indictment of Trump's coronavirus response Trump attacks Biden's housing desegregation proposal as a plot to 'abolish our suburbs' Donald Trump is destroying the Post Office
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| Facebook is adding a label to all posts about voting from federal officials and political candidates, including the president Posted: 16 Jul 2020 07:28 AM PDT  Facebook will label any post about voting from a politician or federal official, whether the posts contain accurate or inaccurate information.
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| Congress edges toward deal to extend federal unemployment subsidy in coronavirus bill Posted: 15 Jul 2020 05:14 PM PDT  The question of whether to extend a temporary federal unemployment insurance subsidy seems like more of an argument over how much to provide rather than whether to extend it.
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| 'Wake up call': Prominent group warns Biden campaign that it's falling short on outreach to women of color Posted: 15 Jul 2020 11:54 AM PDT  Women of color worry that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden isn't paying enough attention to their concerns, risking loss in Nov. 3 as in 2016
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| Woman Who Ran Away to Join ISIS As Teenager Can Return to U.K. to Fight Citizenship Decision, Court Rules Posted: 16 Jul 2020 08:32 AM PDT  Shamima Begum, the woman who ran away from her London home as a teenager to join ISIS in 2015, has won the right to return to the U.K.
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| National Association of Police Organizations president explains decision to endorse President Trump Posted: 15 Jul 2020 08:26 PM PDT  Major law enforcement lobbying group throws weight behind President Trump.
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| NYPD chief, protesters roughed up in Brooklyn Bridge clash Posted: 15 Jul 2020 11:59 AM PDT  Several New York City police officers were attacked and injured Wednesday as pro-police and anti-police protesters clashed on the Brooklyn Bridge, police said. The confrontation happened hours before Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a series of police accountability measures inspired by the killings of George Floyd, Eric Garner and other Black people. At least four officers were hurt, including Chief of Department Terence Monahan, and 37 people were arrested, police said.
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| Kentucky Democratic party stalwart sentenced to prison Posted: 16 Jul 2020 03:01 PM PDT  Kentucky businessman and Democrat Party stalwart Jerry Lundergan was sentenced on Thursday to 21 months in prison for making illegal contributions to the failed U.S. Senate campaign of his daughter, former Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Prosecutors said Lundergan, 73, orchestrated a scheme to funnel more than $200,000 in illegal contributions to Grimes' 2014 campaign against Republican Mitch McConnell.
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| Second group of U.S. diplomats fly back to China amid frayed ties Posted: 15 Jul 2020 02:52 PM PDT  A chartered commercial aircraft left Dulles airport outside Washington for the South Korean capital, Seoul, where passengers would transfer to another aircraft outfitted for medical operations before flying to the Chinese city of Guangzhou. The flight, only the second of many required to return more than 1,200 U.S. diplomats with their families, was the first since negotiations hit an impasse two weeks ago over conditions China wanted to impose on the Americans, prompting the State Department to postpone flights tentatively scheduled for the first 10 days of July. The U.S. is working to fully restaff its mission in China, one of its largest in the world, which was evacuated in February because of COVID-19.
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| A Black social worker is suing American Airlines, alleging employees accused her of kidnapping the white toddler she was escorting on a flight Posted: 16 Jul 2020 12:33 PM PDT  A Black social worker alleged American Airlines employees accused her of kidnapping the white toddler she was bringing home from a parental visit.
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| It started like any other Kremlin crackdown. This time anti-Putin protests followed. Posted: 16 Jul 2020 03:45 AM PDT  Demonstrators have held banners saying "Free Sergei Furgal," while others have called on President Vladimir Putin to resign.
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| Fox News Host Admits She Doesn’t Trust Fox Polls, Deliberately Misleads Pollsters Posted: 16 Jul 2020 12:27 PM PDT  Fox News host Melissa Francis admitted on Thursday that she doesn't trust her own network's polling—conducted by a group considered among the industry's most trustworthy pollsters—while also claiming on-air that she deliberately misleads pollsters when they call her.With President Donald Trump trailing former Vice President Joe Biden by double digits in many national and battleground state polls, a narrative has formed that there are so-called "secret Trump voters" who don't feel comfortable expressing their support for the president. A recent Monmouth poll in Pennsylvania, which finds Biden up by 13 points, shows that a majority of voters in the state believe a secret Trump vote exists."The media consistently reports that Biden is in the lead, but voters remember what happened in 2016. The specter of a secret Trump vote looms large in 2020," Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray wrote upon the poll's release.During a Thursday afternoon Fox News discussion on Brad Parscale's demotion as Trump campaign manager, Francis expressed her distrust of political polling by citing her own experience with deceiving pollsters.After fellow Fox host Lisa "Kennedy" Montgomery said the 2016 polls were "completely wrong" and that current polls are using that same methodology, Francis noted that she is "familiar" with the polls because she has been polled twice recently."Because I'm not affiliated with a party, I am married, I have three children," she said. "I think I am a woman of a certain age, so I am sort of the vote that people are looking for. I have a blast when they call me.""None of the information—sometimes I'm somebody who voted for [New York Mayor Bill] de Blasio but now I was thinking about Trump," Francis continued. "Sometimes it just depends how I toy with these folks."After this writer tweeted out a clip of Francis' comments while asking "are Fox News hosts now claiming they openly lie to pollsters to help push the narrative that all the polls are wrong," the Fox News personality responded that polling is "garbage.""Any pollster who calls me - I do not tell the truth," she wrote. "It's not their business. But I misled them left and right in equal measure. Polling is in fact garbage. I also do *always* disclose where I work and ask from whom they purchased my information."When asked whether this meant that she believed her own network's polls are also "garbage," Francis replied: "I don't trust any polling at all based on my personal experience."Interestingly, despite claiming to find all polling to be "garbage," Twitter sleuths pointed out that she has a history of boosting polling data that supports various Fox-friendly narratives.Francis later tweeted that she has never heard anyone tell her they've been contacted by a pollster but that she personally has been polled "20 times in the past 5 years." She added that this has "undermined my own personal confidence in polling, that is my opinion."According to poll analysis digital outlet FiveThirtyEight, Fox News is rated as one of the most accurate polling organizations, with an A rating. Furthermore, much has been made about the inaccuracy of the 2016 presidential election polls. Post-election analysis, however, shows that the accuracy of the national polls was pretty much on par with every election of the past 50 years. The average of the final polls was also largely in line with Hillary Clinton two-point popular vote win.Beyond that, polling since the 2016 election has been even more accurate. During the 2018 midterm elections, which resulted in a blue wave in the House of Representatives, non-partisan polls were far more accurate than any average poll since 1998. Read 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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| Breonna Taylor protesters want police in jail. Instead, 435 of them have been arrested. Posted: 16 Jul 2020 12:35 PM PDT  The 87 arrested Tuesday were the latest example of protesters in the Breonna Taylor movement being unfazed by punishment from a justice system they don't endorse.
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| Ruth Bader Ginsburg: US Supreme Court oldest justice treated for possible infection Posted: 15 Jul 2020 01:52 PM PDT  The 87-year-old underwent a procedure to clean out a bile duct stent in Baltimore's hospital.
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| Man blamed for nearly half Sri Lanka virus cases speaks out Posted: 14 Jul 2020 09:36 PM PDT  For months he's been anonymous, but now Prasad Dinesh, linked by Sri Lankan authorities to nearly half of the country's more than 2,600 coronavirus cases, is trying to clear his name, and shed some of the stigma of a heroin addiction at the root of his ordeal. Under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former army lieutenant colonel credited with helping end Sri Lanka's long civil war in 2009 with a brutal military campaign against separatists, the Indian Ocean island nation has used the armed forces to combat the virus. When Rajapaksa was elected president last year, a health unit was created in the intelligence service that sprang into action when COVID-19 first appeared, according to State Intelligence Service Assistant Director Parakrama de Silva.
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| Berkeley becomes first US city to approve plan to remove police from traffic stops Posted: 16 Jul 2020 10:06 AM PDT  Berkeley, California moves forward with a proposal to use unarmed civilian city workers to conduct traffic stops instead of police officers; reaction and analysis on 'Outnumbered.'
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| India says Pakistan broke agreement on unimpeded consular access to convicted spy Posted: 16 Jul 2020 10:42 AM PDT  India on Thursday said its diplomats protested and left a meeting arranged by Pakistan in Islamabad with an Indian man condemned to death on charges of spying, saying an agreement to allow "unimpeded" consular access had not been honoured by Pakistani officials. Former Indian Naval Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested in 2016 in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan and convicted of espionage and sabotage by a Pakistani military court a year later. India took the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which ordered a stay on Jadhav's execution in 2019, as well as consular access for India.
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| A White House document reveals 18 states are in the coronavirus 'red zone,' and should limit gatherings, close gyms, and mask up Posted: 16 Jul 2020 04:49 PM PDT  The document shows which states had more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents last week, and recommends stark changes to those states' policies.
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| Space Force Selects More Than 2,400 Airmen to Join the New Service Posted: 16 Jul 2020 03:42 PM PDT  It announced that it has chosen 2,410 members within the space operations and space systems operations career fields.
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| 2 charged in deadly California kidnapping of China citizen Posted: 15 Jul 2020 04:25 PM PDT |
| Florida continues to set tragic records Posted: 16 Jul 2020 02:16 PM PDT  Florida reported a daily record for COVID-19 deaths. Russia's accused of hacking COVID-19 vaccine trials. It's Thursday's news.
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| 'We have nothing': Ethiopia's ethnic unrest leaves destruction in its wake Posted: 15 Jul 2020 08:38 PM PDT  Girma had no choice but to watch from afar as a crowd chanting "This is our place!" set fire to the school he founded more than a decade ago. The unrest that left Girma's school a charred ruin was kicked off by the murder two weeks ago of Hachalu Hundessa, a pop star beloved by Oromos for giving voice to deep-rooted feelings of political and economic marginalisation. Similar property damage has been reported in towns across Oromia, which surrounds the capital Addis Ababa.
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