| Lebanon PM Blames Beirut Explosions on Shipment of Ammonium Nitrate Sitting in Port Since 2013 Posted: 04 Aug 2020 03:59 PM PDT  Massive explosions that rocked the city of Beirut on Tuesday were fueled by a 2,750-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in port since 2013, Lebanon's prime minister announced."I will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened, to hold him accountable and impose the most severe penalties," Prime Minister Hassan Diab told reporters on Tuesday evening. It was not immediately clear why the ammonium nitrate was stored at that location, or how it ended up there.The explosion destroyed Beirut's port and the surrounding area. At least 78 people were killed and thousands more injured in the incident, with city hospitals unable to find room for all patients. Residents of the island nation of Cyprus reported hearing the explosion, and the Beirut newsroom of CNN as well as Lebanon's Daily Star were destroyed."It's like Hiroshima," Beirut mayor Jamal Itani said at a press conference. "There is lots of destruction and the wounded are lying in the streets."The disaster hit as Lebanon continues to struggle with the coronavirus pandemic as well as hyperinflation and looming economic collapse.While tensions between Lebanon and Israel have increased following an attempt by militants to infiltrate Israel's Golan Heights on Monday, officials from Israel and terror group Hezbollah have denied involvement in the incident.
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| 2020 prediction from professor who called every election since 1984 Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:10 AM PDT  Allan Lichtman accurately predicted in 2016 that Donald Trump would win, and then be impeached.
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| A massive explosion just devastated Beirut. Here's what the unbelievable destruction looks like for people on the ground. Posted: 04 Aug 2020 05:33 PM PDT  Buildings have been torn apart, and casualties are mounting. One reporter who was on the scene said that it is "absolute chaos" in Beirut.
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| Photos of mask-less students crammed into a Georgia school hallway show how difficult reopenings could be Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Photos posted on social media show crowded hallways at North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia, where coronavirus cases have been reported.
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| Fact check: Claim linking Milwaukee police and sex trafficking conspiracy is unfounded Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:57 AM PDT  Conspiracy claims Milwaukee police are connected to sex trafficking, were protecting sex offender. But it's unfounded.
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| Senate Democrats propose 'Force to Fight COVID-19' in next relief package Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:28 AM PDT  The proposal combines seven existing bills, including ones with bipartisan support, that were drafted in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Court OKs extradition of man linked to Venezuela's Maduro Posted: 04 Aug 2020 06:44 AM PDT  A court in the West African nation of Cape Verde has approved the extradition to the United States of a Colombian businessman wanted on suspicion of money laundering on behalf of Venezuela's socialist government, his lawyers said Tuesday. The court made the decision to extradite Alex Saab on Friday, but his legal team said in a statement it was informed about the decision only on Monday. Saab was arrested in June when his private jet stopped to refuel in the former Portuguese colony on the way to Iran.
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| Op-Ed: U.S. leaders knew we didn't have to drop atomic bombs on Japan to win the war. We did it anyway Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:05 AM PDT  We've been taught that the U.S. had to drop atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II. Historical evidence shows Japan would have surrendered anyway.
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| Tucker: ‘Probably Illegal’ for Biden to Only Consider a Black Woman VP Posted: 03 Aug 2020 07:04 PM PDT  Fox News star Tucker Carlson—currently facing outrage from network colleagues over his racist rhetoric—upped the ante on Monday night, claiming it was "probably illegal" for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to prioritize Black women in his running-mate search, while calling those candidates unqualified. Carlson, whose former head writer was recently outed as an outspoken racist, kicked off Monday night's broadcast of his hit primetime show by singling out the women of color whom Biden is reportedly considering as the vice-presidential nominee."We've taken a closer look at three potential candidates. All of them are said to be on Joe Biden's shortlist for the job," Carlson declared, referencing a previous inflammatory segment. "They are Stacey Abrams, Karen Bass, and Kamala Harris. Now, in a normal year, no mainstream candidate would consider any of these people. All of them would be disqualified without debate."The far-right Fox host first described Rep. Bass (D-CA) as a "lunatic Fidel Castro acolyte" and an armed revolutionary, referring to her past praise of the Cuban dictator and work for a young leftist group during the 1970s. After calling Abrams, a former Georgia state representative and gubernatorial candidate, "delusional" and accusing her of writing "bad porn novels," Carlson took aim at Sen. Harris (D-CA)."Kamala Harris, meanwhile, is so transparently transactional that even Democratic primary voters who have a strong stomach found her repulsive," he exclaimed. "Pretty much no one who knows Kamala Harris likes her."Claiming the three women did not represent a "blue ribbon group," Carlson then grumbled over the Biden campaign's apparent prioritization of a woman of color to fill out the ticket."For what could very well be the most important job on Earth, Biden has decided to hire exclusively on the basis of qualities that are both immutable and completely irrelevant—race and gender," Carlson huffed. "And that's it. But wait a second, you ask, isn't that insulting? Isn't it wrong? Isn't it probably illegal?""Yes, it is all three of those things," he continued. "But no one's pushing back against it so Biden is doing it."Carlson then tore into another Black woman whom Biden is reportedly considering, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice. Describing her remarks in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi terror attacks as "hateful" and "heinous," the Fox host accused Rice of committing a "moral crime" by initially blaming the embassy attack on an anti-Islamic video.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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| 2nd-grade student tests positive for the coronavirus after 1st day of school Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:43 AM PDT  The child's school is in Georgia's Cherokee County district, which recommends but does not require masks.
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| A Florida woman was kicked off American Airlines flight for wearing a 'F--- 12' face mask Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:39 AM PDT  Arlinda Johns told local news that she put on a new mask when she was told her mask was "offensive." Despite changing, she was later escorted off.
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| White House responds to Trump encouraging voting by mail in Florida after criticizing it for months Posted: 04 Aug 2020 12:08 PM PDT  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded Tuesday to President Trump's encouraging of voting by mail in Florida after criticizing it for months.
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| Beirut Ignored Public Warning There Was a Russian ‘Bomb’ at the Port Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:38 AM PDT  Years before a devastating blast killed at least 100 people and injured more than 4,000 in Beirut Tuesday, a maritime analyst issued a public warning that a Russian "floating bomb" was languishing in the city's docks.Maritime monitoring systems tracked the Rhosus into port in Beirut in September 2013. The ship, which was flagged in Moldova, listed its official cargo as "agricultural commodities." The 2,750 metric ton cargo of ammonium nitrate would primarily be used for fertilizers or high power explosives. To put it in context, less than two metric tons of ammonium nitrate was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The Russian-owned cargo ship called into port in Beirut for reasons unknown, possibly after running into trouble at sea en route from Georgia to Mozambique. Beirut authorities blocked it from leaving and the dangerous cargo was offloaded and stored in Hanger 12 in the port a year later, according to the maritime monitoring website Fleetmon. Mikhail Voytenko, a Russian maritime analyst based in Thailand, warned in July 2014 that the ship, which he said was owned by a Russian operator, was effectively a "floating bomb." Voytenko said the ship's owners had abandoned the ship and its crew, and the Lebanese authorities had failed to protect the deadly cargo. "There are a lot of restrictions, regulations and rules to stick to when talking about storing explosives like ammonium but they just stored it in a warehouse and forgot about it," he told The Daily Beast by phone from close to the Laem Chabang port in Thailand where he works.The Russian captain of the abandoned ship, Boris Prokoshev, and three Ukrainian crew members Valery Lupol, 3rd mechanic Andrey Golovyoshkin and boatswain Boris Musinchak, were made to stay on the ship with the deadly cargo after the other six crew members were released. They launched an appeal to get out, writing to Russian and Ukrainian journalists and to a group that supports seamen."The shipowner abandoned the vessel. The cargo owner has ammonium nitrate in the hold," Musinchak wrote in an email to both the Assol Seamen Aid Foundation and the diplomatic services of Ukraine. "It is an explosive substance... This is how we live for free on a powder keg for 10 months."A Lebanese court then reportedly gave permission to unload the cargo, but not before asking the sailors to find a buyer for it themselves, which they claimed in the email they could not because all communication was stripped from the ship. On Wednesday, Prokoshev appeared on Russian television, insisting that even the lawyer who tried to free them was corrupt and not concerned about the fate of the ammonium nitrate. "For some reason, the consignee did not lift a finger to get his cargo out," he said.The ship was owned and operated by Igor Grechushkin, a Russian, who now moved to Cyprus, according to the stranded sailors. Calls to Grechushkin were not immediately answered.As well as the public warning, Lebanese officials had repeatedly ignored warnings by port authorities about the ammonium nitrate that sparked the devastating explosion.Badri Daher, the current head of Lebanon's customs authority, told reporters on the scene that the explosion was linked to the ammonium nitrate. Several people in the open source intelligence community later tweeted photos of loosely packed bags of white powder, assumed to be the substance. The Daily Beast has not verified the authenticity of the photos.On June 27, 2014, Shafik Merhi, then head of the Lebanese Customs Authority wrote to Lebanese officials under the heading "urgent matters," asking for help to secure the explosives, according to a copy of the letter shared on Twitter by human rights activist Wadih Al Asmar. Merhi then reportedly sent five more letters, in December 5, 2014, May 6, 2015, May 20, 2016, October 13, 2016, and October 27, 2017, pleading for help, according to Al Jazeera, which reports one as saying, "In view of the serious danger of keeping these goods in the hangar in unsuitable climatic conditions, we reaffirm our request to please request the marine agency to re-export these goods immediately to preserve the safety of the port and those working in it, or to look into agreeing to sell this amount."Another letter, this time written by Daher, the incoming head of Lebanese Customs Authority reiterated the warning of "the danger of leaving these goods in the place they are, and to those working there."Lebanon's new prime minister Hassan Diab, who came to the job in January 2020, alluded to the theory that the devastation could have been avoided, promising that "all those responsible for this catastrophe will pay a price."President Donald Trump referred to the explosion as an attack, though local authorities say it was likely set off by a welder working nearby. "I've met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that . . . this was not some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event," Trump said at a White House briefing. "They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind."On Wednesday, hundreds were still reported missing from the massive explosion, which generated seismic waves similar to a 3.3 magnitude earthquake. Beirut port, which is dubiously nicknamed the Cave of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves because of the alleged corruption tied to its management, has been under intense scrutiny in recent months after the October Revolution began last fall. 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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| Passenger on Alaska cruise tests positive for COVID-19, prompting quarantine, canceled sailings Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:52 PM PDT  Passengers are quarantining on the ship until Alaska "deems it safe for them to return home" after one passenger tested positive for COVID-19.
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| Georgia prosecutor asks court to revoke bond for former Atlanta policeman charged with murder Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:28 AM PDT  A Georgia prosecutor has asked a judge to revoke the bond for the former Atlanta policeman charged with murder in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks, saying in court papers that he had violated its terms by taking an out-of-state vacation. Brooks, a Black man, was fatally shot in June in the parking lot of a Wendy's restaurant in Atlanta, an incident that was caught on video and set off days of protests over racial inequality and social injustice. District Attorney Paul Howard asked the court late on Tuesday to send former officer Garrett Rolfe, 27, back to jail for violating the terms of his bond, which include a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and an order that he stays within the court's jurisdiction.
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| A nuclear sea-launched cruise missile will help deter nuclear aggression Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:16 AM PDT  A Pentagon official argues a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile is a measured response to a growing threat from America's adversaries.
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| Officials: School laptops held up ahead of new academic year Posted: 04 Aug 2020 11:03 AM PDT |
| Bill Gates issued a stark warning for the world: 'As awful as this pandemic is, climate change could be worse' Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:44 AM PDT  Gates said to understand the impact climate change will have, we need to "look at COVID-19 and spread the pain out over a much longer period of time."
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| Poll: Most Black Americans Want Police to Remain in Their Areas Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:04 AM PDT  Most black Americans say they want police to continue their current presence in local areas, even as protests against racism and police brutality sweep the nation, and calls to reform and even defund police departments persist.Close to two-thirds, 61 percent, of black Americans said they want the police presence in their area to remain the same, while 20 percent said they would like to see police spend more time in their neighborhood, according to a new Gallup poll. Another 19 percent said they would like to see the police presence in their area decrease.Among the general population, 67 percent of Americans say they want the police presence near them to remain the same, with 71 percent of white Americans saying so. A majority of other minority communities also said they do not want to see fewer police officers patrolling their neighborhoods, with 59 percent of Hispanics preferring the current police presence.Black Americans said they observe police in their neighborhoods slightly more than other groups, 32 percent saying they see police officers often or very often in their area, above the national average of 24 percent of all Americans who say the same. About 27 percent said they rarely or never see police in their neighborhoods. Only 22 percent of white Americans said they see police often or very often around where they live.Of black Americans who see police frequently in their areas, only about a third say they think police should curtail their time in the neighborhood, similar to the overall percentage who say so.Despite most black Americans approving of the level of police presence in their neighborhoods, less than one in five say they are very confident that they would be treated with courtesy and respect during an encounter with police. Meanwhile, over half, 56 percent, of white Americans say they are confident in the same.The Gallup poll was taken after weeks of unrest in metropolitan areas around the country over police tactics involving interactions with minority communities, particularly black Americans. Protests and riots broke out in May in many cities following the police custody death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck as he pleaded for air.Calls to defund police have been particularly prevalent in Portland, Ore. and Seattle, Wash., both of which are predominantly white cities.The survey was conducted online from June 23 to July 6.
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| Jake Paul's home was searched by a small army of federal agents. These some of the YouTuber's biggest controversies. Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:22 AM PDT  From tweets about anxiety to getting booted from Disney Channel, Jake Paul has built a successful brand off being controversial.
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| One American is dying every 80 seconds from coronavirus as Trump shrugs off death toll: ‘It is what it is’ Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:19 PM PDT  At least one person in the United States has died every 80 seconds on average over the last seven days, according to new research, as President Donald Trump said the nation's soaring death toll "is what it is" in a recent interview.The grim figures were first reported by NBC News on Wednesday, which noted its own tally revealed 7,486 people died in the last seven days due to Covid-19.
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| Beirut explosions: Blast detonated 2,750 tons of chemicals - latest news and video Posted: 04 Aug 2020 09:57 AM PDT  At least 100 dead and more than 4,000 injured, officials say Thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated Everything we know so far 'It was like a nuclear explosion': How terrified residents fled the fireball Explained: What is ammonium nitrate? In pictures: Ancient city ripped apart The president of Lebanon has said that 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate were detonated in massive blasts in Beirut that have killed at least 100 people and injured more than 4,000. Explosions shook Lebanon's capital on Tuesday and the death toll is expected to rise. Lebanon's health minister said residents who are able to leave should, saying the hazardous materials in the air after the explosion can have long-term deadly effects. Officials said the chemicals were stored in a warehouse for six years without safety measures. Lebanon's Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, said that those responsible would "pay the price" and said the warehouse at the epicentre of the blast had been "dangerous". "I promise you that this catastrophe will not pass without accountability," he said in a televised speech. "Facts about this dangerous warehouse that has been there since 2014 will be announced and I will not preempt the investigations."
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| 'Blatant disrespect of Black women': Women leaders criticize treatment of Black women being considered as Biden VP pick Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:49 AM PDT  Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Karen Bass, Susan Rice, Rep. Val Demings and Stacey Abrams have all been floated as possible running mates for Biden.
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| 'Delta may be onto something': Experts describe how the company is winning with customers even though rival airlines can fit more passengers Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:37 AM PDT  A new survey and financial figures indicate travelers are willing to pay higher fares for social distance.
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| From Manhattan to Hiroshima: the race for the atom bomb Posted: 03 Aug 2020 08:41 PM PDT  The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki capped six years of top-secret work by scientists from Europe and North America. In 1939, Albert Einstein signs a letter warning US president Franklin D. Roosevelt of the destructive potential of nuclear fission, which was discovered by the German chemist Otto Hahn. Roosevelt creates the Advisory Body on Uranium.
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| Dozens of colleges have abruptly closed — and efforts to protect students have failed Posted: 04 Aug 2020 04:08 AM PDT  Schools at risk of shutting down are supposed to prepare transition plans. But students are often left scrambling to find new ways to finish their degrees.
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| The story behind the widely-shared photo of a bikini-clad doctor who helped a patient on the brink of death Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:15 PM PDT  Dr. Candice Myhre shared a photo of herself saving someone's life while wearing a bikini to highlight "disgraceful" sexism in medicine.
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| 'They're dying … it is what it is': key takeaways from Trump's shocking interview Posted: 04 Aug 2020 11:53 AM PDT  President floundered in conversation with Axios, claiming Covid-19 was 'under control' and attacking mail-in votingDonald Trump stumbled through his second damaging interview in as many weeks, floundering in a conversation with the news website Axios over key issues he is tasked with responding to as president.It's been just over two weeks since the president made a series of shocking statements in a one-on-one interview with Fox News, but he packed another host of extraordinary claims into a 37-minute interview released on Monday night by Axios.Here are the eight most glaring things Trump said to reporter Jonathan Swan. 'It is what it is'In a lengthy discussion about the US's poor response to coronavirus, Trump described the pandemic as "under control".Swan responded: "How? A thousand Americans are dying a day.""They are dying. That's true. And you – it is what it is," Trump said. "But that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. It's under control as much as you can control it." 'You can't do that'The president then appeared unable to distinguish between different measurements of coronavirus deaths.Trump brandished several pieces of paper with graphs and charts."United States is lowest in numerous categories. We're lower than the world. Lower than Europe.""In what?" Swan asked. As it becomes apparent that Trump is talking about the number of deaths as a proportion of confirmed Covid-19 cases, Swan said: "Oh, you're doing death as a proportion of cases. I'm talking about death as a proportion of population. That's where the US is really bad. Much worse than Germany, South Korea."Trump responded: "You can't do that." 'He didn't come to my inauguration'Trump downplayed the work of the congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, whose funeral was held last week in Atlanta, Georgia. Instead of Lewis's legacy, Trump focused on Lewis in relation to himself."I never met John Lewis, actually," Trump said. "He didn't come to my inauguration. He didn't come to my State of the Union speeches, and that's OK. That's his right."Lewis's fight for racial equality includes having his skull broken by state troopers during the 1965 Bloody Sunday march in Alabama. As a congressman he worked across the aisle. 'I did more for the black community than anybody'Swan pressed for an analysis of systemic racism. Trump said: "I have seen where there is a difference and I don't want there to be a difference."When asked why black men are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police, the president spoke about how many white people are killed by the police.Then said: "I did more for the black community than anybody with a possible exception of Abraham Lincoln, whether you like it or not."When asked whether he did more than Lyndon B Johnson, who signed into law the Civil Rights Act in 1964 (and the Voting Rights Act in 1965), Trump didn't really answer the question. 'I do wish her well'Trump stood by a 21 July comment where he said "I wish her well" of Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein who faces federal charges for allegedly enabling the disgraced financier's sex trafficking of minor girls.Asked for his thoughts on Maxwell, Trump said, "Yeah, I wish her well. I'd wish you well. I wish a lot of people well." Promotes Epstein conspiracy theoryHe also promoted the conspiracy theory that Epstein was murdered when he died in a New York jail last August. This has been disputed by the attorney general, William Barr."Her boyfriend died in jail and people are still trying to figure out how did it happen, was it suicide, was he killed?" Trump said. "I do wish her well. I'm not looking for anything bad for her." 'Lots of things can happen'Trump again attacked mail-in voting, which is expected to occur at higher rates in the November election because of the pandemic."It could be decided many months later," Trump said. "Do you know why? Because lots of things will happen during that period of time. Especially when you have tight margins, lots of things can happen. There's never been anything like this … Now, of course, right now we have to live with it, but we're challenging it." 'I have heard that, but it has never reached my desk'Trump said reports that Russia had been offering bounties to the Taliban for attacks on US forces in Afghanistan were "fake news". When Swan asked whether Trump had ever discussed the bounties with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Trump said he had not.When Swan asked Trump about Russia supplying weapons to the Taliban, the president asserted: "I have heard that, but it has never reached my desk."
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| Syrian refugee hailed as hero in Germany after saving woman from rapist Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:46 AM PDT  A Syrian refugee has been hailed as a hero in Germany after he stopped a man raping a woman. The 30-year-old Syrian, named only as Faner O under German privacy laws, intervened after he saw a woman being attacked by a man in the early hours of Sunday morning. With the help of another passerby, he overpowered the rapist and held him until police could reach the scene. The rape victim, who has not been named, is understood to be a trainee police officer. Faner O, who fled to Germany from his native Syria four years ago, works as a car mechanic in the west German city of Wuppertal. He was driving home in the early hours of Sunday morning when he saw a woman being pursued by a man. "It was around half past three in the morning. I had just dropped a friend off and was driving home to my wife and daughter, when I saw a woman walking along Friedrich-Engels-Allee and a man in a red T-shirt running after her. Then they disappeared into the bushes," he told Bild newspaper. Concerned, Faner O stopped his car and followed them into the bushes, where he found the man pinning the woman to the ground. "He had one hand over her mouth and was choking her with the other. She was resisting, but he was very strong." The would-be rapist fled but Faner O gave chase. A 20-year-old passerby who had heard the sounds of struggle came to his help, and together they were able to overpower the perpetrator. The rapist has not been named but is understood to be a 20-year-old Afghan migrant known to local police in connection with similar incidents. The woman suffered only minor injuries, according to local police. "She fought hard and cried out for help. This alerted witnesses who rushed to her aid and drove off her attacker. They then gave chase and were able to seize him after a short pursuit. They held him until officers arrived," police said in a statement. Faner O said he was not afraid during the encounter. "At that moment I was only thinking of helping the woman," he told Bild. "If something like that happened to my daughter, I'd want some one to help her."
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| Sen. Ron Wyden is introducing a privacy bill that would ban government agencies from buying personal information from data brokers Posted: 04 Aug 2020 01:15 PM PDT  The bill, dubbed "The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale," is expected to roll out in the coming weeks, per a report from The Verge.
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| This is what it looked like after the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima 75 years ago Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:57 AM PDT  On August 6, 1945, a U.S. bomber famously known as the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, marking a historic act of nuclear warfare.
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| US announces 'highest level' visit in decades to Taiwan Posted: 04 Aug 2020 07:34 PM PDT  The United States on Wednesday announced its "highest level" visit in decades to Taiwan, a move sure to infuriate China at a time when relations between Washington and Beijing are at historic lows. Washington's trade office in Taipei confirmed that health chief Alex Azar would lead an upcoming delegation to the self-ruled island, which China's communist leaders claim and have vowed to one day seize. "This marks... the first Cabinet member to visit in six years, and the highest level visit by a US Cabinet official since 1979," the American Institute in Taiwan said.
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| Coronavirus: Melbourne police 'assaulted and baited' over lockdown rules Posted: 04 Aug 2020 07:18 PM PDT  A policewoman's head was repeatedly "smashed" in one incident in a shopping centre, authorities say.
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| This May Be the Most Absurd, Trumpian Drama Ever Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:34 AM PDT  The federal agency primarily responsible for the distribution of foreign aid has been roiled in recent days by the most Trumpian of dramas, one involving an anti-LGBT political appointee, blundering conservative operative Jacob Wohl, accusations of stalking, prostitution, and the potential hiring of a young conservative with past racist writings. The chaos seemed set to crest with a slap-dash press conference scheduled for this Thursday. But within a day of the presser's announcement, the main protagonist was apparently recanting her accusations and insinuating that Wohl had stolen her phone and signed into her Twitter account to send the offending messages that set off the fireworks that got her fired. The setting of the entire mess was the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency known largely as a bit of a backwater when it comes to the government's foreign policy apparatus, but one with a $16.8 billion foreign aid budget. On Monday a political appointee and deputy White House liaison there, Merritt Corrigan, took to Twitter to accuse her employer of "anti-Christian" bias. Corrigan's appointment at USAID has been under fire for months over anti-gay tweets she made in 2019 and 2020, including accusing the United States of being a "homo-empire" devoted to a "tyrannical LGBT agenda," tweeting that "female empowerment is a civilizational calamity," and advocating for the creation of a "Christian patriarchy." But on Monday, her targets were both USAID itself and House Foreign Relations Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel (D-NY), whom she accused of soliciting prostitutes. As Corrigan's initial tweets went up, she claimed USAID gave her a 3 p.m. deadline to resign or be fired. When the deadline passed, Corrigan said she was fired.On its own, the episode was bizarre. But then it got much weirder. Jacob Wohl Charged With Felony in CaliforniaCorrigan, who is/was apparently dating Wohl, announced that she'd be appearing Thursday in front of Wohl associate Jack Burkman's Northern Virginia house—a site that has previously hosted farcical attempts to smear Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) with lurid sexual allegations. There, she would further denounce USAID, accuse a Politico reporter who covered her resignation of stalking her, and demand that Engel debate her and Burkman. In a press release announcing the press conference, Burkman and Wohl claimed that Wohl, who is currently facing two felony charges related to security sales in California, had "been working behind the scenes with Corrigan for months."Jacob Wohl's Bogus Warren Accuser Exaggerated His Military Service RecordEngel's office did not return a request for comment. And, perhaps, for good reason. The accusations have no proof or merit, and as the story unfolded it became increasingly difficult to get a read on where the truth actually began and the innuendo and smears ended. On Tuesday afternoon, Corrigan deleted her tweets attacking USAID and stopped responding to messages from The Daily Beast. Wohl claimed in an interview Tuesday that a coterie of Trumpworld personalities had convinced Corrigan to backtrack on her claims. And Burkman claimed that Corrigan had "buyer's remorse" after sending her tweets. "Somebody does something and then they regret it," Burkman said. But later in the day, a conduit sent a statement from Corrigan herself that was darker in implication. Corrigan now claimed she'd become the pawn of individuals who had attempted to "ruin" her. "I would like to apologize," it read. "Especially to the people who have been affected or hurt by the messages sent from my Twitter account, and the claims made in my name over the past 24 hours. I did NOT send these messages, and while I vehemently protested about them being sent in my name, my devices were not in my control. I see now that I was part of an abusive scheme and I was used to attack people that have nothing to do with me."I will not be participating in any press conferences as claimed in my name, and will have nothing to do with individuals who forced me to hand over my devices so they could control me and the output in my name. Due to naivete and inexperience, I became involved with people who abused my trust, conned me, and claimed they were working in my interest. I became powerless in a situation, and I deeply regret not reaching out to people who knew better, or could help me."Corrigan is far from the first Wohl associate to bail on one of his press conferences. But she does appear to be the first to have formally held such a high post at a government agency. And her drama illustrates the degree to which the once-staid USAID has become a stomping grounds for a twisted, absurdist circus involving Trumpian figures who despise one another and are notorious for trying to conduct botched operations against their political foes.Prior to the apparent change of course, Corrigan had also made one other noteworthy assertion—that USAID was set to hire yet another controversial political appointment: conservative personality Kyle Kashuv, whose admission to Harvard was revoked last year over racist remarks he made in high school. Kashuv, a survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, rose to fame on the right in the aftermath of the shooting as a conservative counterweight to pro-gun control Parkland students. Kashuv's opposition to the gun control measures pushed by his classmates earned him a visit to the White House, and a position at conservative campus group Turning Point USA. Along the way, Kashuv antagonized Wohl and some of his right-wing associates for actions like criticizing anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer for wearing a Nazi-era Jewish star to protest her Twitter ban. Harvard Pulls Pro-Gun Parkland Survivor Kyle Kashuv's Admission Over Racial SlursBut Kashuv's star on the right imploded in May 2019, when he was exposed by a fellow classmate for writing racist messages and Google Doc notes. In one text message, Kashuv complained that a classmate dated "ni**erjocks." In the aftermath of the reporting on Kashuv's remarks, Harvard revoked Kashuv's admission to its undergraduate class.Corrigan claims Kashuv has been offered a political appointment to be a special assistant to USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick, after initially being considered for a congressional liaison position. That job offer, she adds, was one point of disagreement with her fellow USAID officials that ultimately led to her speaking out against the agency. "I don't believe that he's a real conservative, and his prior media was going to bring a lot of negativity to USAID," Corrigan told The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast wasn't able to confirm that Kashuv has been offered a position at USAID, but did obtain a document dated July 31 purporting to be an offer letter from USAID, offering Kashuv a position with roughly $50,000 annual salary as an assistant to Glick, pending a security clearance. The purported offer letter to Kashuv listed the phone number of a USAID employee. When a reporter for The Daily Beast called the number, the woman who answered identified herself as a USAID employee but refused to answer questions about the letter."I'm sorry, I can't answer your call," the woman said, before hanging up.USAID declined repeated requests to comment on whether the agency had offered Kashuv a position, but a spokesperson said USAID would investigate "any complaints of anti-Christian bias" made by Corrigan.Kashuv didn't respond to multiple requests for comment. Glick, who called Kashuv a "rockstar" in a May tweet, also didn't respond to requests for comment. 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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| Trump says Florida can provide accurate vote-by-mail results because of its Republican governors Posted: 04 Aug 2020 05:17 PM PDT  Trump continued to sow fear about mail-in voting, claiming that states with Democratic leadership were unprepared.
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| County pledges probe into health worker's coronavirus death Posted: 04 Aug 2020 06:00 AM PDT  Officials in a Maryland county say they "will spare no time or expense" investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a veteran public health worker who died of COVID-19 after relatives and coworkers believe she contracted the virus on the job. The probe follows a story by Kaiser Health News and The Associated Press two weeks ago focusing on the worker, Chantee Mack, a 44-year-old disease intervention specialist at the Prince George's County Health Department who union officials said was among at least 20 department employees infected by the coronavirus. The outbreak underscores the stark dangers facing the nation's front-line public health army, the subject of an ongoing series by KHN and the AP, "Underfunded and Under Threat."
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| A white woman spent years posing online as a Native American scientist and professor, and was caught after claiming the woman contracted coronavirus and died Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:40 AM PDT  BethAnn McLaughlin admitted Tuesday that she created the @Sciencing_Bi account on Twitter, which had been active from 2016 until July 31.
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| Lebanon's devastating blast came in the middle of an unprecedented economic crisis, frequent power outages, and hospitals struggling to contain the coronavirus Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:27 AM PDT  Tuesday's explosion at the port in Beirut, the capital city, killed at least 100 people and injured thousands more.
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| Gold Coast shooting leaves Chicago rapper FBG Duck dead, friends say; 2 seriously hurt on Oak Street Posted: 04 Aug 2020 08:32 PM PDT  The shooting happened a short time after 4 p.m. near 70 E. Oak St.
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| 'It's a hard choice': Tennessee parents send kids back to school amid new COVID-19 cases Posted: 04 Aug 2020 05:04 PM PDT  Parents are grappling with difficult decisions as to how to send their children back to school safely as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues.
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| Narendra Modi lays Ayodhya temple foundation, delighting Hindus and dismaying Muslims Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:57 AM PDT  Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, has invigorated his Hindu support base after laying the foundation stone of a controversial new temple on a site contested by Muslims. In November, after a decades-old legal battle, India's highest court ruled a temple could be built in the city of Ayodhya, where a mosque had stood until it was destroyed by Hindu mobs in 1992. Mr Modi made its construction a key pledge as part of his Hindu nationalist campaign, which saw him re-elected with a landslide victory last year. Many Hindus believe the deity Ram was born at the temple site in Ayodhya, and soil was gathered from more than 2,000 holy sites for its building work. Calling it the "dawn of a new era", Mr Modi said: "India is emotional as decades of wait has ended. For years, our Ram Lalla [the infant Lord Ram] lived beneath a tent; now he will reside in a grand temple."
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| Army to Speed Up Testing of Planned Hypersonic Missile Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:02 PM PDT  The Army has been designing the Common-Hypersonic Glide Body, which will be used by all U.S. services.
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| Trump Adm Bails Out Charter Jet Firm That Helps Deport Migrants Posted: 04 Aug 2020 09:01 AM PDT  The Trump administration's efforts to deport undocumented immigrants en masse just got more expensive. And the agency charged with loading people onto planes and flying them back to their home countries is blaming the coronavirus pandemic for the price hike.In April, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, increased its payments under a contract awarded in 2017 to Classic Air Charter, a company that subcontracts chartered deportation flights out of the country, primarily to Mexico and Central and South America, but also, more recently to other regions.ICE attributed the price hike to the novel coronavirus. The increase swells the already high cost that the federal government pays to fly undocumented immigrants out of the country. The two awards to Classic Air under its ICE contract since the pandemic began, each for $50.7 million, were the largest it's received under the contract since it was inked three years ago. The next largest, for $46.6 million, came in May 2019, but prior to the coronavirus pandemic, ICE awards under the contract averaged just $12.7 million.Trump Deportations Helped Spread COVID 'Disaster' to Central AmericaICE would not provide a comment on the record for this story. Classic Air did not respond to inquiries. But in federal procurement notices beginning in April, ICE said the new contract's "guaranteed minimum values have been temporarily adjusted to maintain vendor operability during COVID19 pandemic."Classic Air has brokered deportation flights for ICE for years, primarily by way of two subcontractors that have charged extremely high rates for the service, due largely to the lack of air carriers willing to work with the controversial immigration enforcement agency.According to internal Classic Air records reported by Quartz last year, ICE was paying Classic Air and its subcontractors as much as $33,000 per flight-hour to deport migrants from Arizona to Bangladesh, India, and Vietnam. It's unclear if those same rates apply to other countries. "Many carriers are discouraged by the potential of public backlash or negative media attention," Classic Air wrote. "As a result, our carrier selection pool has been reduced to a single operator," the Oklahoma-based Omni Air International.Under an indefinite delivery vehicle, which is the type of contract that ICE awarded to Classic Air in 2017, the government agency sets a price range for the goods or services it's purchasing, explained Jim Nagle, of counsel at the law firm Oles Morrison and an expert in federal procurement law. "The government decides that it will need a particular product or service but doesn't know exactly how many," he wrote in an email. "So it gives a minimum which is the only amount that is guaranteed to the contractor and a maximum which should be large enough to cover the amount the government might very well have to order."The federal procurement records noting the increase in minimum awards to Classic Air did not provide details on why or how its fee structure has changed. But additional public records indicate that the company has sought federal assistance to maintain its operations as a result of the coronavirus and the resulting economic downturn.According to data released by the Treasury Department last month, Classic Air received a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program worth between $150,000 and $350,000. The loan helped the company retain 18 jobs, according to Treasury records. Omni Air also got a PPP loan worth between $350,000 and $1 million.Nagle said the hike in ICE payments to the company could provide additional financial benefits for Classic Air. "The only amount that the contractor can reliably count on and show its bankers or creditors is the guaranteed minimum," he wrote. "So sometimes the government, to assist its contractor, will raise the guaranteed minimums to a higher number to reflect the government's increased demand for a particular item or service but also to enable the contractor, especially a needed contractor, to be able to get necessary financing from his bankers."Classic Air has received $322 million from ICE through its deportation contract since 2017, according to federal procurement records. Nearly a third of that, more than than $100 million, has come since March.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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