| Drawing criticism, Trump says he will accept Republican nomination 'live from the White House' Posted: 17 Aug 2020 03:47 PM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he would accept the Republican nomination for a second term during a live speech at the White House next week, confirming plans that have drawn criticism from Democrats and even some fellow Republicans. Trailing Democrat Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of the November vote, Trump last week told the New York Post he would "probably" accept the Republican nomination from the White House lawn, calling it "a place that makes me feel good." Rather than an in-person gathering planned for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Democrats this week have scheduled four nights of virtual speeches and events.
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| Former CIA officer charged with spying for China, conspiring with relative who was also ex-CIA Posted: 17 Aug 2020 02:46 PM PDT  Former CIA officer Alexander Yuk Ching Ma is accused providing U.S. secrets to China in exchange for thousands of dollars in cash and gifts.
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| 'Never seen anything like it': Postal workers raise alarm on mail delays Posted: 17 Aug 2020 04:27 PM PDT  "Everybody is fundamentally watching the beginning of the dismantling of the Postal Service," one 22-year USPS veteran said.
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| Portland: Man left with serious injuries after being kicked in head by protester Posted: 17 Aug 2020 05:14 AM PDT  A man driving near a demonstration in Portland, Oregon has been taken to hospital after being pulled from his car and physically attacked by several protesters – one of whom deliberately kicked him in the head.The attack, which was filmed by various bystanders, occurred late on Sunday night at the intersection of Broadway and Southwest Taylor Street, a few blocks from the federal courthouse and other buildings that have been the focus of recent protests.
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| 60% of Americans agree confirmed coronavirus cases are rising because of more infections, but most Republicans blame testing Posted: 17 Aug 2020 09:01 AM PDT  President Donald Trump has called for getting rid of federal funding for tests, even as experts say it helps control coronavirus spread.
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| Letters to the Editor: Call the 'birther' attacks on Kamala Harris racist and false, then ignore them Posted: 16 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Questions over Kamala Harris' elibility are racist and false. Don't analyze them as if they are part of just another political strategy.
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| A pollution disaster as the stranded Japanese oil tanker off the pristine coast of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean splits apart Posted: 16 Aug 2020 06:40 AM PDT  A huge cleanup operation had been underway in an attempt to pump some of the oil out of the tanker but the condition of the ship worsened on Saturday.
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| Scientists Just Discovered 11 New Emperor Penguin Colonies. From Space. Posted: 17 Aug 2020 11:00 AM PDT  It's a bird breakthrough.
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| New studies reportedly suggest lasting immunity to COVID-19 even in mild cases Posted: 17 Aug 2020 06:24 AM PDT  Experts are voicing optimism that the body provides lasting COVID-19 immunity in those who have recovered from even a mild case following a series of new studies.Scientists have recently been seeing "encouraging signs of strong, lasting immunity" to COVID-19, including in those who only had mild symptoms of the coronavirus, as antibodies that fight against the virus, and B cells and T cells that recognize it, "appear to persist months after infections have resolved," The New York Times reports."This is exactly what you would hope for," University of Washington immunologist Marion Pepper, who authored one of the recent studies, told the Times. "All the pieces are there to have a totally protective immune response."Especially encouraging, the Times explains, is evidence of immunity in patients who just had mild symptoms, which suggests, as University of California immunologist Smita Iyer explained, that "you can still get durable immunity without suffering the consequences of infection." Emory University immunologist Eun-Hyung Lee also told the Times, "Yes, you do develop immunity to this virus, and good immunity to this virus. That's the message we want to get out there."At the same time, the Times notes that it's still not clear how long the immune responses might last, and the recent studies "do not demonstrate protection in action." Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com John Boehner would 'rather set himself on fire' than get involved in the 2020 election Trump administration finalizes plan to open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling Trump wants to take America down with him
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| Proposed effort could revive Mississippi's rebel-themed flag Posted: 17 Aug 2020 11:54 AM PDT  Some Mississippi residents are rebelling against the Legislature's decision to retire a Confederate-themed state flag, and they are being encouraged by conservative legislators who fought the change. Organizers of a group called Let Mississippi Vote said Monday that they are starting an initiative to put the retired flag and three other flag designs on the statewide ballot. "What the legislators did, in my opinion, was 100% wrong," said the group's leader, Dan Carr.
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| Coronavirus in South Asia: Is low testing hiding scale of the outbreak? Posted: 17 Aug 2020 06:31 AM PDT  India is a global hotspot for Covid-19, but what's been happening to cases in neighbouring countries?
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| Controversial South Korean pastor accused of staging 'unpardonable' rally amid surge in Covid cases Posted: 16 Aug 2020 07:38 AM PDT  A controversial South Korean pastor has been strongly criticised for leading thousands of followers to a rally in central Seoul on Saturday - a move which President Moon Jae-in called "an unpardonable act" amid the sharpest rise in coronavirus cases in five months. South Korea initially performed well in the fight against Covid-19, but the number of new cases has soared recently, with 279 new cases on Sunday - following 103 on Friday, and 166 on Saturday. The surge in Covid-19 cases prompted authorities on Sunday to reimpose tighter social distancing curbs in the Seoul metropolitan area. Most of the new infections were among worshipers at the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul, where 240 people have tested positive, and at another church in the surrounding province of Gyeonggi. Tightly packed, fervent prayer services in some South Korean churches have made them particularly vulnerable to the virus.
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| Trump retweets call to let ‘Democrat cities rot’ over video of NYC protesters Posted: 17 Aug 2020 05:15 AM PDT  Donald Trump has come under fire for appearing to endorse a tweet calling for "Democrat cities" to be left to "rot" amid continuing unrest in several metropolises over the killing of George Floyd.The president retweeted a post by Brandon Straka, a right-wing activist, which called for people to "leave Democratic cities", as Black Lives Matter protesters took to the streets for an 11th week running.
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| Restaurant chain in China apologizes for suggesting menu items based on customer weight Posted: 17 Aug 2020 11:25 AM PDT  Customers stepped on a scale to weigh themselves to get recommendations for food before ordering their food.
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| Hit ’em where it hurts – how economic threats are a potent tool for changing people's minds about the Confederate flag Posted: 17 Aug 2020 05:23 AM PDT  Activists nationwide have resumed demanding the removal of statues and symbols that are considered racially offensive – such as of slave owners, Confederate leaders and the Confederate flag.The requests – and related boycotts and threats of other economic protests – have been part of the national controversy about racism in American life and have sparked questions about how to recognize traumatic elements of U.S. history.Typically, the debate about the role of Confederate imagery in public life is seen as a political, social or racial issue. But in recent research, we discovered that economic concerns could be effective in shifting Southerners' attitudes about Confederate symbols. Public officials and individual citizens alike are more likely to oppose the presence of Confederate symbols when they learn it may be bad for local business. Longstanding supportDecisions to build Confederate monuments or display the Confederate battle flag were not, of course, controversial among white Southerners. Even recently, it wasn't common for many white Americans – either in public service or as private citizens – to actively support removing Confederate imagery.Yet some organizations have long opposed Confederate symbols. For instance, the NAACP called an economic boycott of South Carolina from 2000 to 2015 because the Confederate battle flag flew over the State House in Columbia, alongside the state and U.S. flags.As recently as 2011 a plurality of white Southerners saw the Confederate flag as more positive than negative. Political elites were not much different: In 2000, when South Carolina hosted a debate during the Republican presidential primaries, both George W. Bush and John McCain initially supported leaving decisions up to state officials about whether to keep the Confederate flag flying, though McCain equivocated on the issue throughout the campaign. A rapid changeOpposition to public display of Confederate symbols has shifted in more recent years.In some cases, public officials have encountered changing political circumstances. In 2015, for instance, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley supported a bipartisan call to remove the flag from the State House in the wake of a racially motivated mass shooting of African Americans at a Charleston church.Our research found that presenting divisive social and political issues in terms of their potential economic consequences can change the views of both political elites and the public at large.This came up, for instance, during a legislative debate in Mississippi in June 2020. Some of the people arguing that the Confederate flag should not be part of the state flag said that keeping it might impede job creation and economic development in their state. Those tactics are similar to economic arguments from other groups seeking social change, such as LGBT-rights advocates explaining how the business community would be hurt by continued discrimination. What's the effect?In our research, we surveyed voters as well as elected officials at both city and county levels. We wanted to measure whether, and how much, economic interests might affect Southerners' attitudes toward the presence of Confederate symbols. We randomly assigned the participants into one of three equal-sized groups.The first group read a vignette asking them to imagine that a Confederate flag was displayed on local government property in their county, and then asked them, on a scale from 1 to 7, how likely they were to support removal of the flag.The second group was given the same basic information as the first group, but with additional language indicating that the continued presence of Confederate flag on public property in their county would mean a major multinational company would not want to relocate to the community.[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]The last group was given the same information as the second group, but with an additional assertion that the continued presence of the flag would have an effect large enough to affect the stock market in a way that would hurt the respondents' personal economic bottom line.We found that Southerners were far more likely to support removal of Confederate symbols from public property when told there would be economic harm if they stayed up. Both voters and elected officials became about a half-point more likely on our seven-point scale to support removal after receiving information about the economic threats associated with the continued presence of the Confederate flag.Controversies around socially and racially divisive monuments and symbols are likely to continue in the U.S. Our findings indicate that social movements might change more people's minds by emphasizing not only the history of Southern racial injustice, but also by using the potent threats of boycotts and other forms of economic pressure.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * African Americans have long defied white supremacy and celebrated Black culture in public spaces * Latest legal hurdle to removing Confederate statues in Virginia: The wishes of their long-dead white donorsThe authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Armed pro-Confederacy groups faced off with antifa protesters at Georgia's Stone Mountain. Alt-right Proud Boys in clashes after church vigil in Michigan. Posted: 16 Aug 2020 04:12 AM PDT  Fighting broke out between white nationalists and far-right groups with counter-protesters, including antifa, in several locations across the US.
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| 'You can't fix stupid' — Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro rips Kodak executives Posted: 17 Aug 2020 08:00 AM PDT  "What happened at Kodak was probably the dumbest decisions made by executives in corporate history," Navarro said.
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| State senator charged with 'injury' to Confederate monument Posted: 17 Aug 2020 01:52 PM PDT  Sen. Louise Lucas faces charges of of conspiracy to commit a felony and injury to a monument in excess of $1,000, Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene said during a news conference. Lucas is a longtime Democratic legislator and a key power broker in the state Senate, joining the chamber in 1992. The charges were filed the same week Virginia lawmakers are taking up dozens of criminal justice reforms during a special legislative session.
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| China defends detention of Uighur model in Xinjiang Posted: 17 Aug 2020 04:02 PM PDT  Merdan Ghappar sent video and texts about life in Xinjiang's secretive detention system to his family.
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| Lukashenko: Soviet-style strongman on Europe's doorstep Posted: 17 Aug 2020 04:54 AM PDT  Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko is a former collective farm boss who has used Russian backing and Soviet-style political oppression to run a personal fiefdom on Europe's doorstep for 26 years.
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| Pelosi calls House back into session to vote on USPS bill Posted: 16 Aug 2020 09:08 PM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday night that she is calling the House back into session a few weeks early to handle the crisis at the U.S. Postal Service. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will outline the timing to House Democrats on Monday, but Axios reports that lawmakers will travel to Washington, D.C., on Friday and convene on Saturday.Pelosi said the starting point will be a vote on the Delivering for America Act, legislation introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) that "would prohibit the Postal Service from dialing back levels of service it had in place" on Jan. 1. She added that the House will continue to fight for action on a bill it passed in May to provide billions in emergency funding to the USPS and finance other COVID-19 responses; the Senate adjourned last week without a COVID-19 relief bill of its own.Democratic leaders said earlier Sunday that they had asked new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Robert "Mike" Duncan to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Aug. 24 about the changes DeJoy has ordered at the USPS that have slowed mail delivery. DeJoy is a major donor to President Trump's campaigns and former Republican National Convention finance chairman; Duncan is the former head of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) Senate Leadership Fund super PAC."The Postal Service is a pillar of our democracy, enshrined in the Constitution and essential for providing critical services: delivering prescriptions, Social Security benefits, paychecks, tax returns, and absentee ballots to millions of Americans, including in our most remote communities," Pelosi wrote in her letter to colleagues. "Alarmingly, across the nation, we see the devastating effects of the president's campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters." Democratic lawmakers say they have been flooded with complaints about postal service delays, and Trump said last week he opposes new USPS funding because it would enable voting by mail.More stories from theweek.com John Boehner would 'rather set himself on fire' than get involved in the 2020 election Trump administration finalizes plan to open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling Trump wants to take America down with him
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| 'High visibility arrests attract a crowd': Anger as police defend arresting BLM protester in unmarked van Posted: 17 Aug 2020 10:11 AM PDT  Protesters in Pittsburgh are demanding answers from the city's mayor after an activist was abducted by plainclothes officers into an unmarked van on Saturday.A video captured the moments after the protester, Matthew Cartier, 25, was pulled into an unmarked van by the city's police.
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| 'It’s a little nerve-wracking': Lunchtime for students looks different amid COVID-19 Posted: 17 Aug 2020 09:39 AM PDT  In districts open for in-person instruction during the pandemic, some schools offer prepackaged meals and frequently clean the lunchroom.
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| An angry bull chased a crew of firefighters down a Los Angeles road while they were responding to the Lake Fire Posted: 15 Aug 2020 10:00 PM PDT  The Ventura County Fire Department called the bull "Ferdinand," and said firefighters had been clearing the roads when the bull gave chase.
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| Gowdy on Durham probe: More FBI members have been indicted than Trump family members Posted: 17 Aug 2020 04:02 AM PDT  Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy weighs in on impending guilty plea in Durham investigation, addresses lack of media coverage.
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| 3 Texas officers shot by gunman, who holds 3 people in home Posted: 16 Aug 2020 03:00 PM PDT  Three police officers were shot and a man remained barricaded inside a home with three of his family members in a suburb of Austin, Texas, authorities said. Officers responded to a call about 3:10 p.m. at a home off Natalie Cove from a mother who said her son kicked in the door of the home, Interim Chief of Police Mike Harmon said during a news conference near the scene. The mother, a juvenile and another person, whose age was unknown, remain in the home held by the suspect, believed to be in his mid-20s, Harmon said.
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| Huge snake sends tourists running when it bolts from SUV at Yellowstone National Park Posted: 17 Aug 2020 04:50 AM PDT  Screaming can be heard on the video.
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| Deadly clash reported between U.S. and Syrian forces Posted: 17 Aug 2020 03:41 AM PDT  Syrian media and a war monitoring group say the incident started when American forces were denied passage at a checkpoint near a Syrian air base.
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| The USPS handles 500 million letters a day at Christmas. Mail-in ballots should be easy. Posted: 17 Aug 2020 06:25 AM PDT  President Trump said last Thursday he opposes the push by Democrats to give the U.S. Postal Service billions of dollars for the election, telling Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo "they need that money in order for the Post Office to work, to take in these millions and millions of ballots," and without the funds, "they can't have universal mail-in voting."But despite what Trump says and Democrats say they fear, a lack of money won't stop the USPS from delivering ballots in a timely matter, according to postal experts and the USPS itself. In the week before Christmas, for example, the USPS processes and delivers 2.5 billion pieces of first-class mail, or about 500 million cards and letters a day, not to mention packages."From a sheer numbers perspective, none of the experts I spoke with doubted that the Postal Service could handle a vote-by-mail election, even if every one of the nation's more than 150 million registered voters stuck their ballot in a mailbox," Russell Berman writes in The Atlantic. "As one noted to me, a presidential election might be a big deal, but in postal terms, it's no Christmas." The experts are worried about measures put in place by new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.> .@JessicaHuseman explains how and why mail-in voting could be impacted with policy changes at the USPS.https://t.co/b4ejvuJlX0 pic.twitter.com/KpQKKftkD4> > — New Day (@NewDay) August 17, 2020The disappearing mail-sorting machines and mail collection boxes aren't the big concern — or even necessarily DeJoy's doing, Nick Harper explains in a Medium post. The real electoral threat, Berman says, is DeJoy's rapid moves to eliminate overtime, "even though as many as 40,000 postal workers have been quarantined or out sick because of the coronavirus," and leave mail behind if it isn't on the truck on schedule, violating the Postal Service ethos and gumming up the works. The USPS has also said it won't treat all ballots as first-class mail, as it normally does.But USPS has been preparing for a surge in mail-in ballots since before DeJoy took over, Berman writes, and besides, "post offices may not follow directives from Washington, D.C., if they believe doing so will tamper with the election. Postal workers are voters too, and for years they've been trained to prioritize ballots at election time." Read more at The Atlantic.More stories from theweek.com John Boehner would 'rather set himself on fire' than get involved in the 2020 election Trump administration finalizes plan to open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling Trump wants to take America down with him
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| Putin, Erdogan discuss conflicts in Libya, Syria in phone call Posted: 17 Aug 2020 03:32 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan discussed the conflicts in Libya and Syria in a telephone call on Monday. The Kremlin said that the two leaders, focused mainly on the crisis in Libya, where they back opposing sides, highlighting the need to make real steps towards a sustainable ceasefire. The Turkish presidency said Putin and Erdogan also discussed a dispute between Turkey and Greece over energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, saying they "emphasised the importance of continuing close cooperation and dialogue".
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| The GOP Smeared the First Female Veep Choice. Will History Repeat Itself? Posted: 16 Aug 2020 02:08 AM PDT  Thirty-six years after Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman named to a major party ticket, we have a chance as a country to get it right, not just the outcome but the process itself. California Senator Kamala Harris is not a surprise out-of-the-box pick like Ferraro, a congresswoman from Queens. And there's no expectation that it's all on her—the way it was for Ferraro—to shake up the campaign and bring Joe Biden across the finish line. The former vice president is doing fine in the polls, thank you. Harris is an added benefit, not the Hail Mary pass Ferraro was when another former vice president, Walter Mondale, made her his running mate at a time when he trailed Ronald Reagan badly. The Reagan campaign in 1984 was blindsided by Ferraro. It had no opposition research on her, and the team was completely undone by the prospect of running against a woman. Pollster Richard Wirthlin hurriedly put together a poll that revealed the land mines ahead. Even questioning Ferraro's credentials would invite a furious backlash from women, widening the gender gap that was seen as Reagan's Achilles Heel. The Trump campaign has had months to prepare, and Harris long ago attracted the president's notice when she kicked off her campaign for president in January 2019 before a crowd of 20,000 in Oakland. Trump knows rallies, and commanding a crowd of that size with energy and verve takes talent. Trump Holds a Grudge Against Kamala Harris for Wanting to 'Lock Him Up'Taking her down the way Ferraro was taken down won't happen in a time of heightened gender awareness. Women have Harris' back in a way that was unimaginable in Ferraro's time. "The Trump campaign is going to have to do something they haven't been successful at, which is to be very disciplined and take a hard look at what will turn off voters, especially female voters, and chart a course where they don't hit those land mines," says John Roberts, a former Reagan campaign operative whose new book, Reagan's Cowboys, exposes the secret operation created at the insistence of first lady Nancy Reagan to find information to discredit Ferraro, focusing mainly on her husband's alleged ties to the mafia. Roberts recounts a meeting in the White House on July 13, 1984, the day after Ferraro was announced, with Roy Cohn. Yes, that Roy Cohn. He was there to share "inside information" with campaign manager Ed Rollins about the vice-presidential candidate's ties to organized crime. Roberts describes Cohn as a "longtime intimate" of the Reagans. "He was involved, he kept coming up with ideas and tips, and some were correct," Roberts told the Daily Beast. At the time, Cohn was practicing law in New York and counted among his clients many familiar names in the mafia crime world, including the Gambino family. Cohn said that Ferraro and her husband, John Zaccaro, through his real estate business, had ties to the mafia that he could expose. He offered to hold a series of news conferences and personally make the allegation that Ferraro was "mobbed up." If true, this was explosive information. But Cohn was not the right messenger. While they were meeting with Cohn, Mondale and Ferraro were on their kick-off tour, and Ferraro was asked how she squared her Catholicism with her pro-choice position. Her response: "President Reagan walks around calling himself a good Christian. I don't for one minute believe it." She pointed to the effect of Reagan's policies on the poor and minorities. Nancy Reagan was furious. She called Stu Spencer, the eminence grise of the campaign, and ordered him to "get everything on Ferraro." Spencer deputized Roberts and another aide, Art Teale, who had led Blacks for Reagan in 1980, as a two-person super-secret inside operation to drive up Ferraro's negatives and find information on her ties to organized crime. It's hard to believe with the benefit of hindsight and Reagan winning 49 states in 1984 the extent to which Nancy Reagan and the campaign felt threatened by Ferraro. They saw her as a triple threat: Catholic, Italian-American, and female, someone who could cut into Reagan's vote with all three critical groups. Roberts and Teale dubbed themselves "Reagan's Cowboys," and at the height of their research they were tracking 18 different mafia angles. Roberts took to routinely checking the undercarriage of his Mustang for a bomb just in case. They planted lots of stories with the mainstream media, and among their biggest finds were clippings from a local newspaper in Newburgh, New York, dated 1944, that described the arrest of Ferraro's father and mother for numbers running. The mom and pop dime store Ferraro described so often in her story as the daughter of immigrants was really a front for a gambling operation. Her father succumbed to a heart attack the day before his scheduled trial, and the authorities dropped charges against her mother. Ferraro was 8 or 9 years old at the time and was not aware of her parents' activities. With the help of Roy Cohn's contacts at the New York Post, the story ran big, noting that the indictment called Ferraro's parents "common gamblers." The Post story appeared on Oct. 18, one week after the vice- presidential debate between George H. W. Bush and Ferraro. Asked what she thought of Ferraro's performance, Barbara Bush said, "I can't say it, it rhymes with rich." Bush's press secretary, Pete Teeley, followed up more directly, saying Ferraro came across as "too bitchy." Rogers worried that the Bushes piling on would create sympathy for Ferraro. In Wirthlin's polling the only attacks on Ferraro that voters wanted to hear were about her husband's taxes. She had endured a barrage of criticism for initially bowing to his insistence that his tax records remain private. In the closing weeks of the campaign, reporters asked Ferraro about the volume of negative stories directed at her and her family. "I don't know if it's because I'm the first woman; I don't know if it's because I'm an Italian-American," she said. Her press secretary revealed that Ferraro cried after he told her about the Newburgh News article with the account of her parents' arrest. Asked at a news conference if that was true, she replied, "I don't cry easily." When a reporter noted that didn't answer the question, she said evenly, "I know it didn't." When the Daily Beast first reported on Reagan's Cowboys in 2018, when a record number of women were running for president, Roberts said he felt "slimy" digging up information on Ferraro's parents that she was too young to be aware of at the time. "That's still true," he says. "It's one of those moves you sit back, and you think about how she didn't know, her kids didn't know–and her mother was still alive. Think how proud she must have been about her daughter, and we're dropping a 40-year-old arrest regarding her father for the world to see. There was enough there you had to look into it, but nobody ever produced information that I have seen that Ferraro knowingly was doing business with the mob." Rogers told The Daily Beast two years ago when he began work on his book that tagging Ferraro with the mafia label was bogus: "She herself aside from receiving some contributions and her husband who had some dealings with the Gambinos, I don't think either of them were mobbed up in any significant way. It was the previous generation." After the campaign, John Zaccaro, Ferraro's husband, was convicted for fraudulently obtaining a bank loan. He paid a fine and served 150 hours of community service. Ferraro died at age 75 in 2011. Zaccaro, 87, is still alive. If there's a cautionary tale here for the first woman on a Democratic ticket since Ferraro, it's that anything goes—from the Oval Office on down. And this time, there's no need for secret operatives. President Trump himself set the tone minutes after Harris was announced, repeatedly calling her "nasty" and showing no inclination to try to hide his tracks as he tries to trample over the country's attempt to make long overdue history. 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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| Louisville police have spent more than $90,000 on security for officers in Breonna Taylor shooting Posted: 17 Aug 2020 03:01 AM PDT  Intense scrutiny and threats surrounding Breonna Taylor case has prompted Louisville police to spend more than $90,000 on security for officers.
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| Reopen schools and let parents decide how to educate their children in the COVID pandemic Posted: 17 Aug 2020 08:55 AM PDT  Children can be harmed by lack of education, nutrition and mental health care. We cannot ignore the casualties of all other conditions to contain COVID.
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| A 47-year-old man kept getting drunk from alcohol produced in his own gut. Doctors cured him with a poop transplant. Posted: 17 Aug 2020 02:00 PM PDT  Auto-brewery syndrome is an illness where a person's body produces alcohol inside their gut, which can lead to drunkenness without consuming alcohol.
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| Egyptian envoys leave Gaza after bid to ease Israel tensions Posted: 17 Aug 2020 05:39 AM PDT  Egyptian mediators were in the Gaza Strip on Monday in an effort to reduce tensions and prevent a new cross-border conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but departed without appearing to have secured a resolution. For the past week, Palestinian youth groups affiliated with Hamas, a militant group that seized control of Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007, have fired incendiary balloons toward Israel, setting swaths of farmland on fire.
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| The couple blamed for an Islamic State attack on their wedding Posted: 17 Aug 2020 12:28 AM PDT  An Islamic State bomb devastated the happiest day of Rehana and Mirwais' life - then they were blamed.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican John Kasich trade barbs before they both speak at the Democratic convention Posted: 17 Aug 2020 12:58 PM PDT  Ocasio-Cortez called Kasich "an anti-choice extremist" who's "not a friend to workers" hours before he was scheduled to speak at the convention.
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| Boaters scream for help as vessel sinks after being swamped with water by Trump boat parade Posted: 17 Aug 2020 03:04 PM PDT  A group of boats flying flags in support of president Donald Trump created waves large enough in a Portland river that they caused a boat to sink with people onboard.On Sunday, more than 20 boats flying flags in support of the president sped down Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, as part of the "Trump Boat Parade" that took place that day, according to the Daily Mail.
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| The Obama Administration Still Owes Mitt Romney an Apology Posted: 16 Aug 2020 03:30 AM PDT  Earlier this month, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center released a statement saying that Russia is once again involving itself in an American presidential election. This report comes after months of speculation regarding Russia's "bounty program," in which Taliban fighters were allegedly paid by the Kremlin for targeting American troops in Afghanistan. The bounties, the electoral interference, and Russia's multifarious acts of aggression are all bullet points on the long list of reasons why Mitt Romney deserves an apology.Upon taking office in 2009, President Obama famously attempted to "reset" the diplomatic relationship between the United States and Russia. Relations between the two countries remained relatively warm in the years after the Soviet Union's collapse. But as the 20th century ended and the 21st century began, Vladimir Putin assumed power from Boris Yeltsin and the relationship changed.Under Putin, Russia became much more aggressive on the international stage. A former KGB agent, he entered office pining for his own reset — a return of Russia to its glory days. Tensions between the United States and Russia once again grew heated as Putin, in response to America's planned installation of a ballistic-missile-defense system in Eastern Europe, tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that could purportedly penetrate any shield. The test was accompanied by renewed warnings that, if plans for the missile-defense system were brought to fruition, Russia would target missiles at Poland and the Czech Republic.Despite Putin's increasing boldness on the international stage, the Obama administration declined to take the Russian threat seriously.During the 2012 general-election campaign, Romney called Russia "our number one geopolitical foe." In the cycle's final debate, Obama mocked Romney's warning, remarking that, "the 1980s are calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War's been over for 20 years." It was a canned, stale one-liner even at the time, but the media voraciously lapped it up. With the benefit of eight years of hindsight, it reads more like Gerald Ford's "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" than the Reaganesque zinger it was meant to be. In fact, Reagan often used a Russian proverb — "trust, but verify" — to describe his approach to negotiations with Gorbachev. The Obama administration's approach to Putin wasn't so cautious.Three months after Obama's reelection, American fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers, both equipped with nuclear-tipped missiles, circling the U.S. territory of Guam. The same year, Russia announced plans for a new ICBM system. When Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014, Obama, doubling down on his erroneous initial assessment, dismissed the annexation as the work of a "regional power," not a security threat. According to a former Taliban spokesman interviewed by the Daily Beast earlier this year, Russia began paying militants to kill American troops in Afghanistan at around the same time.Alongside revelations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election came limited recognition that Obama and his ilk were wrong to turn Romney's prescient warning into a joke. But now, amid news of the bounty program and the NCSC's warning of repeated Russian election interference, the Obama administration's negligence has become even more apparent.In light of the current political moment, appropriate criticisms of previous administrations seem trite. Under a president seemingly in thrall to various authoritarian leaders, during a mismanaged global pandemic, Obama's foreign-policy missteps might appear undeserving of too much attention. But much like ideas, policies have consequences, and the Obama administration's reckless handling of Russia paved the way for a resurgent Putin regime's belligerence.Where does that leave us now? In much the same place we were under Obama: saddled with a government that needs to wake up and take the Russian threat seriously. During the Trump administration, we've seen Democrats adopt traditionally Republican positions that the GOP has seemingly abandoned. The Democratic Party has become more open to free trade, signaled support for international institutions, and grown more hawkish on Russia and China. Though the Democrats' about-face on these issues is certainly welcome, it is almost certainly born of partisanship, not philosophy. If Joe Biden defeats Trump in November, it will be up to him to prove otherwise — to heed the mistakes of the previous two administrations and meet the Russian threat head-on, even when there's no obvious domestic political advantage to be had from doing so, because American national security depends on it.
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| Southern California's Lake Fire feeds on 'decadent' fuels, burns over 18,000 acres in Angeles National Forest Posted: 16 Aug 2020 08:06 PM PDT  The Lake Fire in Southern California still has no known cause as it continued to burn over the weekend.
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| Privileged parents form COVID pandemic pods that widen education gaps. We can do better. Posted: 16 Aug 2020 10:43 AM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic and privileged parents have broken an already unequal education system. What do we build in its place?
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| NOW President Steps Down After Racism Allegations Posted: 16 Aug 2020 09:13 PM PDT  Citing health concerns, the president of the National Organization for Women stepped down Sunday, amid a flurry of allegations of racism at the nation's oldest and largest feminist organization.In an email to the NOW board, state presidents, and staff on Sunday night, President Toni Van Pelt announced she would be stepping down with two weeks' notice effective Aug. 28. Vice President Christian Nunes will take her place, and the board will begin the process of appointing a new vice president.In her email, Van Pelt said she had been struggling with a "very painful health issue" over the last year and that her doctor had "implored me for months to stop working.""I have been ignoring my doctor's advice and my health for too long, so I have made the very hard decision to retire and step down as President of NOW," she wrote.Van Pelt's resignation comes on the heels of an internal investigation into allegations of racism and a toxic work environment at the storied feminist group. Ten minutes after Van Pelt's resignation email, the same group of NOW leaders received an email saying the internal investigation had uncovered "governance issues and evidence of a toxic work environment." Allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation, the email said, were not substantiated."NOW is committed to addressing these issues and to working together to move forward and to fight for the equality of all women," the email said.Florida President Kim Porteous, one of 26 chapter leaders who have called on Van Pelt to step down, said she was thrilled with the news of the president's resignation but concerned by her explanation."To hear that Toni is stepping down for health issues is offensive," she said. "We cannot move forward with restorative justice by covering up racism or making excuses for people to leave." NOW and Van Pelt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.NOW Board Member Accused of Claiming to Be Woman of Color to Boost Re-Election ChancesA Daily Beast investigation published in June revealed allegations of racism reaching the highest levels of the organization. Interviews and internal documents showed that Van Pelt was accused of racist behavior by more than 15 former NOW staffers and interns and that her former vice president, Gilda Yazzie, had filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the organization. Among other things, Van Pelt was accused of telling staffers that she only chose Yazzie, who is Native American, as her running mate because she needed a woman of color to win.In the wake of that investigation, Van Pelt sent an email to NOW board members, state presidents, staff, and PAC members apologizing for any hurt she had caused and committing to five action items to improve racial justice within the organization. "All Black Lives matter," she wrote. "As a White woman, I'll never understand the experiences of women of color. I challenge myself to address structural racism and recognize that this is a lifelong, ongoing process."'Don't Forget the White Women!': Members Say Racism Ran Rampant at NOWBut in the weeks following, six more former board members and employees—including Van Pelt's current vice president, Christian Nunes—came forward to accuse Van Pelt of disrespecting and ignoring women of color, and making racially insensitive statements. Two of the three staff members who left NOW this year told The Daily Beast their exits were due in part to how Van Pelt treated staffers of color. (In one instance, a former staffer said, Van Pelt brought employees of color to tears during a diversity training session.)Twenty-six of the 35 NOW state chapters had signed on to a letter asking Van Pelt to resign, and several had submitted their own. The entire Washington, D.C., and Twin Cities boards also quit in protest. The organization's head of college students resigned last month, saying in an email to The Daily Beast that "the organization's actions have completely tarnished my work among many others."Nine of the 15 national board members had also called for Van Pelt's resignation, setting off a tense showdown between the self-titled "Radical Nine" and Van Pelt's supporters. The group needed three more votes in order to force Van Pelt out of her position—a feat they were not able to achieve despite continued pressure from state chapters. The same nine members were recently subjected to an internal grievance process that they claimed was intended to silence them."There is a real strong push to keep us from speaking up, and we cannot be silent anymore," board member and Arizona state Sen. Victoria Steele said at the time. "If we allow this to be silent then we're complicit in racism."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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| UN-backed court to issue verdicts in Lebanon's Hariri case Posted: 16 Aug 2020 11:09 PM PDT  More than 15 years after the truck bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut, a U.N.-backed tribunal in the Netherlands is announcing verdicts this week in the trial of four members of the militant group Hezbollah allegedly involved in the killing, which deeply divided the tiny country. The verdicts on Tuesday at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, based in a village on the outskirts of the Dutch city of The Hague, are expected to further add to soaring tensions in Lebanon, two weeks after a catastrophic explosion at Beirut's port that killed nearly 180 people, injured more than 6,000 and destroyed thousands of homes in the Lebanese capital.
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| Pittsburgh Police Tactics In Oakland Arrest Spark Outrage Posted: 17 Aug 2020 02:10 AM PDT  Protesters called for Mayor Bill Peduto's resignation following a weekend arrest in Oakland.
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| An 82-year-old Texas man waited more than a week for his heart medication to arrive, thanks to USPS delays Posted: 17 Aug 2020 02:01 PM PDT  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has agreed to testify next week before the House Oversight Committee about his cost-cutting measures at the USPS.
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| Trump reportedly pushing new unproven coronavirus treatment that is also embraced by HUD Sec. Ben Carson and MyPillow's Mike Lindell Posted: 16 Aug 2020 06:56 PM PDT  MyPillow's Mike Lindell said Trump "basically said: …'The FDA should be approving it,'" regarding oleandrin as a potential coronavirus treatment.
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