| Judge denies Oregon push to limit US agents during arrests Posted: 23 Jul 2020 10:04 PM PDT  A U.S. judge on Friday denied an order sought by Oregon's top law enforcement officer to restrict federal agents' actions when they arrest people during nightly protests that have roiled Portland and pitted local officials against the Trump administration. President Donald Trump said he sent in federal agents early this month to quell the unrest despite outcry from Democratic leaders in Oregon.
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| CCTV shows suspects in fishing trip 'massacre' following victim into Florida dollar store Posted: 23 Jul 2020 10:32 AM PDT  CCTV footage from a Florida convenience store has shown the suspects arrested in connection with a fishing trip "massacre" in the same store as one of the victims just before they were murdered.
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| Fact check: Viral photo shows Obama, Fauci visiting NIH lab in 2014, not a 'Wuhan lab' in 2015 Posted: 23 Jul 2020 09:50 AM PDT  In social media posts, the photo has been taken out of context. It depicts Obama, Fauci and Sylvia Burwell visiting a U.S. lab in the D.C. area.
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| Tom Cotton Introduces Bill to Prohibit Federal Funding for Schools Using ‘1619 Project’ Curriculum Posted: 23 Jul 2020 12:26 PM PDT  Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) introduced a law on Thursday that would prohibit federal funding for schools that incorporate curriculum from the New York Times's "1619 Project."The 1619 Project, named after the year when colonists first brought slaves to the U.S., attempts to retell American history by emphasizing the importance of slavery in the country's earliest years. However, historians have criticized the project for basic "factual errors" and a " displacement of historical understanding by ideology." (One example of such an error in the project is the assertion that the colonies revolted from British rule in order to preserve slavery.)"The New York Times's 1619 Project is a racially divisive, revisionist account of history that denies the noble principles of freedom and equality on which our nation was founded," Cotton said in a statement. "Not a single cent of federal funding should go to indoctrinate young Americans with this left-wing garbage."According to Cotton, the bill would not affect federal funding allocated to low-income or special-needs students.The Times has announced plans to incorporate material from the project in public school curricula. Districts in several major cities including Chicago, Ill., and Washington, D.C., have adopted some of these materials.Writer Nikole Hannah-Jones won a Pulitzer Prize in April for her lead essay for the project.
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| Two of the ISIS terrorists dubbed the Beatles admit involvement in captivity of Kayla Mueller, James Foley Posted: 23 Jul 2020 01:00 PM PDT  In exclusive interviews, the two men, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, for the first time admitted their involvement in the captivity of Mueller.
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| Top pediatrician says open schools for younger kids Posted: 23 Jul 2020 03:01 PM PDT  A top pediatrician told Congress that schools should reopen for younger kids in parts of the country next month.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denounces 'sexist slur by congressman' Posted: 23 Jul 2020 11:37 PM PDT  "I am someone's daughter," says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez following a heated exchange with a colleague.
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| 'How long did you serve, Tucker?' Another woman who lost her legs in Iraq backs Tammy Duckworth over Carlson's snark Posted: 23 Jul 2020 07:26 AM PDT  Despite their heroic military careers, Tammy Duckworth, Marissa Strock and many more American women like them continue to endure indignities on the home front.
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| 'What if I don't comply?' Indiana Republican lawmaker posts a photo of a .45-caliber handgun in response to GOP governor's mask order Posted: 24 Jul 2020 09:59 AM PDT  State Rep. Jim Lucas says he plans to draft legislation to "rescind this level of power."
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| Goldman Sachs and Malaysia reach $3.9B settlement over 1MDB Posted: 24 Jul 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Malaysia's government said Friday it has reached a $3.9 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs in exchange for dropping criminal charges against the bank over bond sales that raised money for the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, which was looted of billions of dollars in a massive scandal. Malaysian and U.S. prosecutors had alleged that the bond sales organized by Goldman Sachs provided one of the means for associates of ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak to steal billions over several years from a fund that was ostensibly set up to accelerate Malaysia's economic development.
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| 5 Seattle media outlets have to hand over their unpublished photos from a George Floyd protest to help police investigate suspected crimes, judge rules Posted: 24 Jul 2020 04:00 AM PDT  The Seattle Police Department subpoenaed five media outlets for their footage from a May 30 protest to aid its probe into alleged violence.
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| 'It's the retweets that get you in trouble': Trump says he often regrets sending tweets Posted: 24 Jul 2020 11:14 AM PDT  Donald Trump said he often regrets some of his tweets and admitted to not always paying much attention to who he retweets to his 84 million followers."It's not the tweets, it's the retweets that get you in trouble," he said Friday in an interview with Barstool Sports at the White House.
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| The 5 Best Leaf Vacuums for Yard Cleanup Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:15 PM PDT |
| Pompeo: U.S. engagement with China has failed Posted: 23 Jul 2020 02:20 PM PDT  The secretary of state decried China as a dishonest global player and brutal domestic regime.
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| Mexican minister quits after clash over navy's anti-drugs role Posted: 23 Jul 2020 09:55 AM PDT  Mexico's communications and transportation minister said on Thursday he was resigning because he disagreed with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's decision to hand control of ports to the navy as the government seeks to curb drug trafficking. Anxious to stop chemicals used to make narcotics entering the country, Lopez Obrador wants the navy to oversee ports and customs facilities, a decision that the outgoing minister, Javier Jimenez Espriu, was not in agreement with. "We had a dispute that happens between free men," Lopez Obrador said in a video announcing Jimenez Espriu's exit.
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| San Diego shipyard inks $10 million contract for Bonhomme Richard firefighting and cleanup Posted: 23 Jul 2020 10:36 AM PDT  NASSCO San Diego will continue to aid cleanup through November.
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| The coronavirus curves are starting to flatten — again. But complacency now could prove deadly. Posted: 23 Jul 2020 12:08 PM PDT  There's no evidence from the rest of the world that relying on people to behave themselves can actually suppress the coronavirus to a manageable level, as opposed to merely slowing its spread. So far, only lockdowns have done that.
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| NASA will launch a balloon the size of a football stadium into the stratosphere Posted: 24 Jul 2020 08:47 AM PDT  NASA will launch a telescope named ASTHROS and a balloon the size of a football stadium so researchers can study the formation of stars.
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| Judge: No immediate ruling on Robert E. Lee statue removal Posted: 22 Jul 2020 10:19 PM PDT  A Richmond judge heard arguments Thursday but said he would not immediately issue a ruling in a lawsuit over Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's plans to remove an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Attorney Gen. Mark Herring's office asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit and dissolve an existing injunction barring the removal of the statue from historic Monument Avenue. The lawsuit was filed by William C. Gregory, a descendant of signatories to a 1890 deed that transferred the statue, pedestal and ground they sit on to the state.
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| Dark history of transatlantic slavery traced through DNA study Posted: 23 Jul 2020 05:07 PM PDT  A new DNA study published Thursday sheds fresh light on the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, from the legacy of rape that can be seen in today's genetics to how disease likely decimated some groups forced to work in deadly conditions. The grim results from a paper, which appeared in the American Journal of Human Genetics, compiled genetic data from 50,000 consenting research participants from both sides of the Atlantic. It cross-referenced these with detailed records from slave ships that transported 12.5 million men, women and children between 1515 and 1865.
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| Trump keeps boasting he 'aced' a 'very hard' cognitive test: Here's one like it you can take — see if you can match him Posted: 23 Jul 2020 04:09 AM PDT  Trump likely took the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Its creator said it's not about IQ, but issues associated with things like Alzheimer's.
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| Alabama prison officers ‘use cruel and unusual punishment’ on inmates, DOJ says Posted: 24 Jul 2020 07:15 AM PDT  Alabama prisons have used "cruel and unusual punishment" on inmates by allowing correctional officers to perform routine beatings, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said following an investigation."Our investigation found reasonable cause to believe that there is a pattern or practice of using excessive force against prisoners in Alabama's prisons for men," Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the department's Civil Rights Division said.
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| Senate GOP, White House reach tentative $1 trillion pact to break coronavirus aid logjam Posted: 23 Jul 2020 07:33 AM PDT  The latest talks show some signs of resolving intraparty clashes that have kept negotiations at a dead stop for weeks.
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| Doctors are posting bikini selfies in protest of a study that said it is 'unprofessional' for female medics to share bikini photos online Posted: 24 Jul 2020 08:08 AM PDT  Three male researchers created fake social media profiles to collect photos of female doctors in bikinis for the 2019 study.
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| Exclusive: More than 40 countries accuse North Korea of breaching U.N. sanctions Posted: 24 Jul 2020 08:21 AM PDT  More than 40 countries accused North Korea on Friday of illicitly breaching a United Nations cap on refined petroleum imports and called for an immediate halt to deliveries until the end of the year, according to a complaint seen by Reuters. The 15-member U.N. Security Council imposed an annual cap of 500,000 barrels in December 2017 in a bid to cut off fuel for North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. The complaint said North Korean vessels continue to conduct ship-to-ship transfers at sea "on a regular basis as the DPRK's primary means of importing refined petroleum."
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| Ahead of hearing with big tech CEOs, Cicilline says a Biden presidency would lead to regulation next year Posted: 23 Jul 2020 02:00 AM PDT  A top Democrat leading an antitrust investigation into the nation's top technology companies said Wednesday his committee will release a report by the end of August with recommendations on legislation that Congress could pass into law as soon as next year.
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| Derek Chauvin, ex-Minneapolis officer charged with killing George Floyd, now facing tax evasion charges Posted: 23 Jul 2020 10:01 AM PDT  Derek Chauvin and his wife are accused of underreporting their income for years in Minnesota and failing to file state taxes some years.
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| Court orders 4th sentencing for actress in 2010 fatal crash Posted: 24 Jul 2020 09:39 AM PDT  A former "Melrose Place" actress who has already served a sentence for a fatal drunken driving crash could go back to prison. The complicated legal history of the case against Amy Locane includes three sentences imposed by two judges, as well as numerous appeals. It stems from a crash in March 2010 that killed Helene Seeman and seriously injured her husband, Fred, as they turned into their driveway in Montgomery Township in central New Jersey.
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| The Media Can’t Stop Misleading on Guns Posted: 23 Jul 2020 01:58 PM PDT  With the possible exception of religion, there is no issue in American political life that is as poorly covered as guns. At RealClearPolitics, John Lott reports that legacy media outlets often quite literally allow anti–Second Amendment activists to write their news stories on gun policy. Politico hasn't quite done that today, but . . . well, I'm not sure having reporters dutifully repackaging Everytown USA press releases is any better.Politico's piece is headlined "Blocked gun sales skyrocket amid coronavirus pandemic." I have been curious to find out how the anti–Second Amendment crowd would spin the recent spike in gun sales -- which has been especially concentrated among new owners and women -- and I now have my answer:> Internal FBI data reveal a jarring new stat: The number of people trying to buy guns who can't legally own them has skyrocketed. That came as part of a surge in gun purchases in the first three months of 2020, compared to the same time period in 2019. And the change has raised concerns about gun safety.Reporters who lard up their pieces with adjectives such as "jarring," "massive," "whopping," and "raised concerns" are usually trying to convince readers of something that isn't true. And so it is here. Indeed, all this Politico piece tells us is that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System is working exactly as intended.Groups such as Everytown spend a lot of time trying to convince Americans that their country doesn't have a background-check system at all. They're good at it, too; millions of voters seem to be under the impression that criminals can walk into a Walmart and walk out with an AR-15. And yet suddenly Everytown is upset that "jarring" numbers of people are being denied guns by the FBI. Isn't that the point of the system?And about those numbers . . . the piece goes on:> In March 2019, the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) ran background checks on 823,273 attempted gun buys (the system immediately greenlights the vast majority of transactions). This past March, however, NICS processed more than 1.4 million background checks — a massive spike. The most dramatic shift, though, might be in how many people the system blocked from buying guns.> > In March 2019 and February 2020, the NICS system blocked about 9,500 and 9,700, respectively. But in March 2020, it blocked more than double that amount: a whopping 23,692 gun sales.What these stats show is that very few prohibited Americans attempt to buy guns from dealers (this number is even lower than typically suggested, because many of them aren't attempting to hoodwink the FBI but are simply ignorant of the law), and that this is as true in 2020 as it was in 2019. The rejection rate in February 2019 was 0.6 percent and in February 2020 it was 0.68 percent. In March 2019, the rejection rate was 1.15 percent, and it was 1.64 percent in March 2020. As a 2019 Government Accountability Office report inidicates, the number of rejected applications has consistently been around 1 percent for years. Remaining around the historical average is neither "whopping," "jarring," nor "massive," despite the framing of the piece.The piece goes on:> NICS's website says it only blocks gun sales for a narrow number of reasons: because the would-be purchaser has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution, for instance, or because the potential buyer is subject to a restraining order for stalking an intimate partner.Actually, NICS says nothing of the sort on its website. Rather, it offers eleven rather broad grounds and circumstances in which a person can be denied a gun. We know they are broad because no other constitutional right has anything close to as many restrictions on it. I can assure you that if the FBI had eleven reasons to deny women abortions, Politico wouldn't be characterizing them as "narrow" constraints.Politico finishes off the short piece off by quoting a couple of completely baseless statements from Everytown president John Feinblatt:> "This FBI data confirms our fear that America's background check system is completely overwhelmed, which means that more guns are slipping through the cracks and being sold to prohibited purchasers," John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown, said in a statement. "Mitch McConnell can stop this by taking action to close the Charleston loophole, but he's too scared of the gun lobby's waning political power to do anything, even as gun violence rises in the midst of a pandemic."There is no evidence to bolster the assertion that the system is "completely overwhelmed" or that more people are "slipping through the cracks." In fact, the FBI spokesperson says in the piece that the NICS "has reallocated resources to address the incoming volume of NICS transactions."Also, there's no such thing as the "Charleston loophole." I realize that activists such as Feinblatt think every gun purchase in America reflects a "loophole" that needs to be closed, but the three-day waiting limit on checks was purposely written into the 1998 law -- which makes it the opposite of a loophole. The provision was added to the law to ensure that the FBI couldn't arbitrarily deny Americans their Second Amendment rights. The Charleston church shooter obtained his gun -- despite his drug use -- not because of problems with the law but because of a data-entry error. If that is distressing to Feinblatt and his organization, perhaps he should ask the Democratic House to stop ignoring FBI requests for more NICS funding.The simple truth is that these numbers reflect an established pattern: When gun purchases rise -- probably initially owing to the helplessness felt by many people during the COVID-19 lockdown, and later compounded by the lawlessness that erupted in big cities -- other numbers will rise with them. Ultimately, Feinblatt's objection isn't to more background checks; it's to more gun ownership. That's his job, so it's to be expected. But what's the media's excuse?
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| Does Tucker Carlson hate America? Posted: 24 Jul 2020 04:51 AM PDT  Tucker Carlson is only capable of two facial expressions. One is a deeply furrowed brow that narrows his eyes to a point at which they almost disappear, not dissimilar to the face a child makes when they are hangry, or lost, or both. He uses this expression when he is describing the point of view of someone with whom he disagrees. The other is a wide-eyed look of pleading which sends his eyebrows rising at least an inch in the other direction. It is an expression meant to portray logic and reason, of why-do-you-hate-America indignity. He uses it chiefly when describing his own views and solutions to the problems facing the country.All of this is to say that if eyes are windows to the soul, Carlson's spirit is black and white. He is a binary man whose whole career has been defined by his opposition to, and his apparent hatred of, other people and ideas. And at a time when America is more polarised than ever, he is having a moment.
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| Astrophysicists published the largest 3D map of the universe ever made, filling in 11 billion years of history Posted: 24 Jul 2020 07:29 AM PDT  It's the most comprehensive 3D map of the cosmos to date, covering millions of galaxies and supermassive black holes.
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| Taliban propose potential Afghan talks timeline as violence soars Posted: 23 Jul 2020 10:04 AM PDT  The Taliban are prepared to hold peace talks with the Afghan government next month straight after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the insurgents said Thursday, provided an ongoing prisoner swap has been completed. The development comes amid soaring violence that has threatened to derail US-backed efforts to bring Kabul and the Taliban to the negotiating table and seek an end to Afghanistan's nearly 19-year-old war. The Taliban are "likely ... ready to begin intra-Afghan negotiations immediately after Eid in case the process of the release of the prisoners is completed," the insurgents' political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Twitter.
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| The millionaire Republicans campaigning to oust Trump Posted: 24 Jul 2020 06:30 AM PDT  A growing number of wealthy conservative Americans are hoping to oust President Trump in November's election.
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| Georgia's governor and Atlanta's mayor ordered to mediate coronavirus mask fight Posted: 23 Jul 2020 05:04 PM PDT  A Georgia judge on Thursday ordered the governor and Atlanta's mayor to enter mediation over the governor's lawsuit aimed at stopping the city from enforcing its requirement that people wear masks in public during the coronavirus pandemic. Fulton Superior Court Judge Jane Barwick ordered Governor Brian Kemp and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to attend mediation with another judge and try to resolve the dispute before an emergency hearing scheduled in the case for Tuesday. Earlier this month, Kemp, a Republican, barred local leaders from requiring people to wear masks.
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| The body of professional poker player Susie 'Q' Zhao has been found charred in a Michigan park Posted: 24 Jul 2020 07:11 AM PDT  Police are treating Zhao's death as a homicide, and say it is possible her death was connected to her career.
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| Man arrested after pulling gun during mask argument at Florida Walmart Posted: 24 Jul 2020 07:45 AM PDT  Vincent Scavetta, 28, was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and improper exhibition of a firearm and arrested.
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| Minneapolis council shifts police media duties to city staff Posted: 24 Jul 2020 10:18 AM PDT  The Minneapolis City Council voted Friday to shift police media duties from the Police Department to city staff in what one council member called a move to improve trust, amid calls for changes in policing after George Floyd's death. The shift in media duties won't affect the city's bottom line, but was seen as emblematic of a struggle over the future of policing in Minneapolis, where a majority of council members favor replacing the current department with a different kind of public safety agency. Overall, the City Council members redirected more than $1 million from a $193 million police budget Friday.
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| Chicago mayor calls for gun control to curb violence Posted: 23 Jul 2020 02:50 AM PDT  Reaction from Gun Owners of America spokesperson Antonia Okafor.
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| Florida tops 400,000 coronavirus cases after governor says state is moving in 'better direction' Posted: 24 Jul 2020 11:46 AM PDT  The somber milestone follows the U.S. topping 4 million confirmed coronavirus cases nationwide.
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| 'This is not new, and that is the problem': AOC gives powerful speech against misogyny in response to being called a 'f***ing b****' by GOP lawmaker Posted: 23 Jul 2020 09:48 AM PDT  US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered a speech condemning Republican lawmaker Ted Yoho, who has been accused of accosting the New York Democrat and calling her a "f***ing b***" on the steps of the House of Representatives.Speaking from the House floor on Thursday, she said that his language reflects a "culture of lack of impunity, of accepting of violence and violent language against women, and an entire structure of power against women" –including other abuses against her from Republican officials, including Donald Trump.
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| Elon Musk says he doesn't support another government stimulus because of 'special interests.' Most of his 44,000 employees likely benefited from it. Posted: 24 Jul 2020 10:20 AM PDT  The median Tesla worker makes $55,000, meaning tens of thousands of them likely benefitted from the stimulus law.
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| China pushes Huawei, Washington pulls another way Posted: 23 Jul 2020 10:57 AM PDT |
| How the Murder of an Ethiopian Singer Triggered an Uprising Against a Disintegrating Democracy Posted: 24 Jul 2020 11:58 AM PDT  The songs of Haacaaluu Hundeessaa spoke to the country's grassroots about historical injustices
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| Idris Khattak: 'My father was taken and I don't know why' Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:11 AM PDT  Unknown men put a bag over Idris Khattak's head and took him from his car on a highway interchange.
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| Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick ran sex ring for clerics at New Jersey beach home, lawsuit alleges Posted: 23 Jul 2020 11:10 AM PDT  A lawsuit accuses former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked last year, of running a sex ring for clerics at a NJ beach house.
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| N. Korea's Kim visits chicken farm, calls for improvements Posted: 22 Jul 2020 10:33 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected a new chicken farm being built in a county south of capital Pyongyang and called for improvements to what he described as an outdated poultry industry, state media said Thursday. The North's official Korean Central News Agency didn't say exactly when Kim made the trip to the construction site in Hwangju. The report didn't mention any comments by Kim about U.S.-led international sanctions over his nuclear weapons program, which have increased pressure on the North's broken economy.
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| Here's the Lineup of Bases Next to Get the Army Greens Uniform Posted: 23 Jul 2020 05:02 PM PDT  Army uniform officials have released an updated plan to field the new World War II-style Army Green Service Uniform.
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| Tropical Storm Gonzalo forecast to become 2020's first Atlantic hurricane of the year Posted: 23 Jul 2020 08:07 PM PDT  The storm is forecast to bring gusty winds and tropical downpours to the Windward Islands this weekend, and it's not the only game in town.
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| Trump press secretary downplays CDC data on children and coronavirus as White House promotes schools reopening Posted: 24 Jul 2020 10:39 AM PDT  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the administration's push to reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic this fall despite a Centres for Disease Control and Prevention study that shows children ages 10 to 19 are as infectious as adults.Donald Trump announced this week that the Republican National Convention will cancel its Florida portion of the event in August over Covid-19 concerns, but then argued that it is crucial for schools to return within the same time frame.
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| LeBron James group to donate $100,000 toward paying Florida ex-felons' fines so they can vote Posted: 24 Jul 2020 12:44 PM PDT  LeBron James is getting involved in helping ex-felons register to vote in Florida.More Than A Vote, the group that James helped establish this year, on Friday announced it would donate $100,000 toward paying fees and fines of people in Florida with past felony convictions so they can register to vote, Politico reports. The group is raising the money to be donated to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition fines and fees fund. Additionally, the group will host an online screening of a documentary about the late Rep. John Lewis, and proceeds will go to the fund. "Your right to vote shouldn't depend upon whether or not you can pay to exercise it," Miami Heat player Udonis Haslem, who is also a member of More Than A Vote, said.Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 that restored voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences, but the state later passed a law saying that they must pay off court fees and fines before being able to register to vote. That law is facing legal challenges, and a judge in May found it unconstitutional, saying it creates a "pay-to-vote system." But the Supreme Court has allowed the law to stay in effect for now while the legal challenges continue.More Than A Vote was formed in June amid the nationwide protests over the police killing of George Floyd, and the group describes its priority as "combating systemic, racist voter suppression by educating, energizing, and protecting our community in 2020." James said in an interview with The New York Times last month, "Because of everything that's going on, people are finally starting to listen to us — we feel like we're finally getting a foot in the door. How long is up to us. We don't know. But we feel like we're getting some ears and some attention, and this is the time for us to finally make a difference." More stories from theweek.com The coming Republican power grab on the Supreme Court Trump says he 'often' regrets his tweets New Lincoln Project ad presents brutal timeline of Trump's coronavirus response
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