| Kyle Rittenhouse, 17-year-old charged in Kenosha protest shootings, considered himself militia, social media posts show Posted: 26 Aug 2020 02:01 PM PDT  Kyle Rittenhouse, charged with shooting three people during a Kenosha protest, thought of himself as a militia member, according to social media posts
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| ‘We’re losing, dude, and we’re going to get really hurt’: Trump Jr believes father will be defeated by Biden, report says Posted: 25 Aug 2020 03:40 PM PDT  Donald Trump Jr is reportedly concerned that his father may not win re-election come November.The New York Times reported the claim on Tuesday.
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| A woman says that the 19-year-old Kansas House candidate who admitted to revenge porn choked and slapped her within the last year Posted: 26 Aug 2020 08:53 AM PDT  Kansas House candidate Aaron Coleman admitted to bullying and harassing girls in middle school. His ex says he assaulted her in the last year.
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| Jacob Blake: Teenager arrested over Wisconsin protesters' deaths Posted: 26 Aug 2020 02:33 PM PDT  A teenager is arrested over the killing of two protesters following the police shooting of a black man.
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| McConnell, McGrath jockey over debates in Senate race Posted: 26 Aug 2020 12:53 PM PDT  Jockeying over a debate schedule continues in the hard-hitting Kentucky Senate race pitting Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell against Democratic challenger Amy McGrath. McConnell accepted an offer to participate in a forum next Monday hosted by the Kentucky Farm Bureau, but McGrath turned down the invitation. McGrath says she wants three debates with McConnell that also would include the Libertarian candidate, Brad Barron.
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| ‘Putin’s Chef’ Threatens to Destroy Alexei Navalny in the Courts if He Survives Poisoning Posted: 26 Aug 2020 06:31 AM PDT  A notorious ally of Vladimir Putin says he will use Russia's corrupt courts to destroy Alexei Navalny financially if the stricken opposition leader ever recovers from a chemical agent believed to have been slipped into his tea.Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was sanctioned by the U.S. for financing online efforts to distort the 2016 presidential election, used a company to buy out debts owed by Navalny so that he could increase the financial pressure on the anti-corruption campaigner.He chose the moment that Navalny was at his weakest—unconscious in a hospital bed—to make the announcement. "I intend to strip this group of unscrupulous people of their clothes and shoes," Prigozhin said.Navalny, the leading opponent of President Putin's government, is in a coma in a Berlin hospital, where German doctors say they found evidence of cholinesterase inhibitors in his body, which could indicate the use of weapons-grade nerve agents.Prigozhin got the nickname "Putin's chef" because of the success of his catering company, but his empire, which includes billions of dollars in Russian government contracts, stretches well beyond food preparation. The U.S. government accuses him of funding the Internet Research Agency, an online troll farm that helped to get Donald Trump elected president. Prigozhin is also accused of financing Wagner, a private army used by the Kremlin for some of its most nefarious overseas missions, but he denies any involvement.On Tuesday night, his company Concord announced that it would do everything it could to collect a court-ordered fine of 88 million rubles (around $1.2 million) that he bought from Moskovsky Shkolnik (Moscow Schoolboy), a company Navalny was found guilty of defaming in a video report, according to the Moscow Times. Prigozhin was quoted as saying on Concord's social-media accounts Wednesday, "If comrade Navalny kicks the bucket, I personally don't intend to persecute him in this world. I'll put this off for an indefinite time and then I'll compensate myself to my pleasure." He added that if Navalny survives, he would be liable "according to the full severity of Russian law" to pay off his court-ordered debt.Navalny was rushed to a hospital in Omsk last week after losing consciousness on a flight back to Moscow, after campaigning against Putin in local elections.Ivan Zhdanov, a key ally of Navalny and director of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), has claimed that Putin must have authorized the suspected poisoning. "He hates what the FBK does too much, exposing him and his entourage."The Kremlin brushed off the accusation as "hot air" and stood by earlier reports from a Siberian hospital where Navalny was first treated that said no evidence of poisoning had been found. 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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| Joe Kennedy's once-promising Massachusetts Senate primary challenge might be a bust, polls show Posted: 26 Aug 2020 12:54 PM PDT  Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) doesn't look like he'll be getting a promotion after all.When Kennedy announced his Democratic primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey, there seemed to be a chance his more centrist bid might pan out, and he even got House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) endorsement. But more and more polls keep putting Markey back on top, including two released Wednesday just days before primary ballots are counted.Markey, a progressive and co-author of the Green New Deal, has the support of 52 percent of likely Massachusetts Democratic Primary voters, a poll from the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion shows. Just 40 percent said they'd vote for Kennedy, putting Markey safely over Kennedy even if the 6 percent of undecided voters in the poll went in the challenger's favor.Another poll released Wednesday from the progressive think tank Data for Progress meanwhile gives Markey an 8-point advantage over Kennedy. Markey gets 46 percent support to Kennedy's 38 among likely Democratic primary voters, though a large 16 percent said they remain undecided.Earlier, albeit limited, polls indicated Markey and Kennedy's race was close, and some even gave Kennedy a sizable lead. Massachusetts' Senate primary election is Sept. 1, and early voting is already open.UMass Lowell surveyed 800 likely Massachusetts Democratic primary voters online from Aug. 13-21, with a 4.1 percent margin of error. Data for Progress surveyed 732 likely Massachusetts Democratic primary voters between Aug. 24 and 25 using text-to-web and panel responses, with a 4 percent margin of error.More stories from theweek.com Trump's RNC role is a much bigger mistake than Republicans realize Trump calls for drug tests before presidential debates Karen Pence is the RNC's most fascinating person
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| Kenosha shooting: Video appears to show gunman approaching police Posted: 26 Aug 2020 09:22 AM PDT  At least two people were killed and one was injured by a gunman at a protest Tuesday night in Kenosha, Wis., over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Video of the incident appears to show a man with a rifle falling to the ground as protesters ran toward him. He then fires multiple shots at several people nearby. The footage later shows the gunman approaching police on the scene with raised arms, though it does not show if he was detained by police.
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| Only Native American on federal death row executed Posted: 26 Aug 2020 04:27 PM PDT  Lezmond Mitchell's execution for his part in a 2001 double murder has renewed a debate over tribal sovereignty.
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| What Pam Bondi's attacks on Hunter Biden got right — and wrong Posted: 26 Aug 2020 09:15 AM PDT  Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, made assertions about Joe Biden's son Hunter, Ukraine and China at the Republican National Convention.
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| Israel keeps up Gaza strikes after Qatar joins mediation bid Posted: 26 Aug 2020 12:09 AM PDT  Israeli warplanes struck a Hamas target in Gaza overnight, the military said Wednesday, even as a Qatari envoy joined efforts to broker an end to the almost three-week flare-up.
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| Jurassic Park or Florida? Researchers just captured 3 huge ‘alligator snapping turtles’ Posted: 26 Aug 2020 10:42 AM PDT  Awww, how cute. Not really.
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| New CDC study offers the strongest evidence yet that COVID-19 can spread in airplanes Posted: 26 Aug 2020 03:20 PM PDT  The South Korean researchers say hand washing, mask wearing, and physical distance at all times can mitigate the risk of transmission.
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| Coast Guard Watch Opens Fire After 8-Foot Shark Crashes Swim Call Posted: 26 Aug 2020 10:49 AM PDT  There is a reason the Navy and Coast Guard post armed guards on shark watch during swim calls.
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| RNC Speaker Kristi Noem Is a Master of COVID Delusion Posted: 26 Aug 2020 01:28 AM PDT  When South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem addresses the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, the theme of the evening will be "Land of Heroes."But whatever Noem says in her remarks, she will remain somebody who smilingly approved a gathering of nearly half a million people who were in some ways worse than cowards.Cowards run away from danger to save themselves. But people who gather in huge numbers largely without masks or social distancing in the middle of a pandemic prove themselves happily willing to risk the lives and well-being of others.The approximately 450,000 who assembled for a biker rally in Sturgis spoke of freedom and personal choice. But they were not just risking their own lives, as many of them do when they hop on a Harley without a helmet. Not to wear a mask is to place people around you at risk, who in turn place others at risk, who in turn do so to others. Do not let all those American flags fool you. The Sturgis rally was not about being free. It was about being monumentally selfish. To put it in terms of this brand of supposed patriotism: My country, 'tis of ME!'I Have 12 Masks': Teacher Stuck Between Rogue Guv and Biker ShitshowAs of Tuesday, eight states—South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Montana, and Washington—had reported 103 cases of COVID-19 that had been traced back to the Sturgis rally. And that was likely just the start."We're expecting that we're going to see many more cases associated with Sturgis," Kris Ehresmann, infectious disease director at the Minnesota Department of Health, said on Friday when announcing the first 15 rally cases in her state. "Thousands of people attended that event, and so it's very likely that we'll see more transmission. Obviously, it takes a while for people to develop symptoms and get tested and for us to get those results."By Tuesday afternoon, the number in Minnesota had more than doubled to 35. One was somebody who worked at the rally. Another played in a band there. The rest were described as "attendees." "The 35 cases represent 33 households," Ehresmann told the press. "I think we'll continue to see cases."She added, "We're likely to see additional cases of secondary transmission; 'I traveled to Sturigis, but now I've exposed someone else.'" So, it is an all but sure thing that the virus will continue to spread as a result of the rally in South Dakota—and that more infections will be arising even as Noem's speech is aired. Some of Noem's defenders point to the absence of publicized COVID-19 cases tied to a largely maskless gathering at Mount Rushmore on July 3. But that was a single-day event involving only 7,500 people, held exclusively outdoors. The Sturgis rally ran for 10 days, with an estimated 442,500 more in attendance, with much of that time spent in concert halls and bars. The South Dakota Department of Health (SDOH) was reporting as of Monday that there were 37 infections traced to the rally in-state. One was an employee of Asylum Tattoo on Main Street in Sturgis. Asylum appears to have immediately taken down its social media sites. But an SDOH notice remains online listing the days and long hours (10 a.m. to 2 a.m.) the employee worked as a reference for people who think they might have been infected there.Meanwhile, even as her own state health officials were posting such notices about two other Sturgis establishments, Noem was tweeting irresponsible nonsense."Science says we can't stop the virus from spreading," she tweeted, as if it were true. "That's why we do what we can to care for our vulnerable population."In another tweet, she said, "Our fight against COVID-19 isn't over. We'll continue to see cases, and we'll keep taking smart steps and exercising personal responsibility to protect our most vulnerable."What science does say is that the virus can be largely stopped from spreading when aggressive testing is combined with basic precautions, which include masks and social distancing."As I've told you many times, together, we will get through this," she said in another tweet. "Together, we're proving that we can."Right.And she is not done with large gatherings. She has announced plans to hold "Governor Noem's Sportsmen's Showcase and Concert," with country music star Chris Young playing before as many as 13,000 people in a Sioux Falls arena. The concert is intended to augment the annual "Governor's Hunt" of pheasants."South Dakota is home to the best pheasant hunting in America," Noem told the press at the July 31 announcement. "We're adding the Sportsmen's Showcase and Concert to make this event bigger and better than ever before."As if "bigger" made any sense these days.By her own account, Noem understands from her father the sense of invincibility that can lead people to take risks. She was 21 and married and pregnant with her first child and away at college when she was suddenly called back to the family ranch in South Dakota. Her father, Ron Arnold, had sought to clear a clogged 50,000 bushel grain bin and fell in while his teenage son watched. "He was the kind of guy who could do anything," Noem later said of her father to a local reporter. "He was indestructible. We had spent our lives watching him do crazy stuff, and have all kinds of crazy stories about him. So you just never thought he could ever get hurt or anything could ever happen to him."She herself wrote in an op-ed, "My dad didn't expect to die on March 10, 1994. He was young and vibrant, but that day, he was moving too fast... People came quickly, ripping apart our grain bin to find him... Despite their best efforts, my dad died in the hospital that night."She left college to keep the ranch running. That led to her becoming active in several agricultural organizations and that led her into politics. Her first campaign ad was about her father. She wrote the op-ed in 2017, when she was running for governor, and it was largely about estate taxes and the family's struggle to hang onto the ranch, but she also gave witness to the enormity of such a tragic loss. "I've spent the last 23 years without my dad," she wrote. "He didn't get to meet my kids or see how we were able to grow the family farm. He didn't get to see me elected to Congress. And he's not going to be there when his granddaughters walk down the aisle."He also will not be able to hear her big RNC speech. All that only deepens the mystery of how Noem—or indeed anybody—can shrug away thousands of COVID-19 deaths so that people can eschew masks and social distancing in what they call an exercise of freedom but is really worse than cowardice.By the time Noem speaks on Wednesday night, retired school counselor Linda Chaplin of Sturgis expects to know if she tested positive for COVID-19 after the rally. Back on June 10, Chaplin gave a speech of her own, at a hearing preceding the vote by the Sturgis City Council on whether to approve the rally."It is my deepest conviction that this is a huge, foolish mistake to make to host the rally this year," Chaplin warned. "The government of Sturgis needs to care most for its citizens."A poll of Sturgis residents found that 60 percent were in favor of canceling this year's rally. The city council went ahead and voted to authorize the road closures and traffic adjustments that would enable the rally to proceed. Mayor Mark Carstensen argued that the bikers were going to come anyway.That was when Noem could and should have stepped in. She instead ignored the risk assessment that her own state health department posted regarding public gatherings:"Highest risk: Large, in-person gatherings where it is difficult for individuals to remain spaced at least 6 feet apart and attendees travel from multiple areas."South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's COVID-19 Inaction Has Made Her a Right-Wing HeroIn private recognition of the risk, Chaplin stayed away from the rally. She continued to observe all the precautions, but there were hundreds of thousands in Sturgis who did not, and there was no way of being sure to have avoided infection. She reports that she knows two Sturigis residents who tested positive. And she has a son and a daughter who are teachers, as well as grandchildren who are students. All will be at risk when the schools reopen on September 8.On Monday morning, Chaplin went to the drive-in testing facility that was set up in the parking lot of a city community center in the aftermath of the rally. She was told that the results would be available in 48 hours."They said it would appear on MyChart," she told The Daily Beast.Statewide on Tuesday, there were only 216 tests, with 80, or more than a third, coming back positive. Should Chaplin be among the positive results on Wednesday, it will not be because she was careless or selfish. "I'm wearing my mask," she said. "Trying to be careful."Thus spoke someone who is a true citizen of the Land of Heroes that the Republicans will seek to evoke on Wednesday, when Noem speaks.Back at the July 3 event at Mount Rushmore that Noem set in motion and Trump stage-managed, an array of military aircraft roared overhead to symbolize the power of our national defense. But the upturned faces were bare of what our best scientists say is essential to protecting ourselves and the country during the pandemic. Afterwards, Noem gave Trump a 4-foot replica of Mount Rushmore in which our current president had been added to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Trump's bare face will forever be that of the president who scoffed at wearing masks and led millions of others to do the same as the virus spread. Noem and the rest of the GOP can say whatever they want—Trump still comes up as worse than a coward. If you want a real American speech, pull up the one on YouTube of Linda Chaplin addressing the Sturgis City Council. 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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| HK police arrest two pro-democracy lawmakers over 2019 protests Posted: 25 Aug 2020 08:46 PM PDT  Hong Kong police arrested two opposition lawmakers on Wednesday over anti-government protests in July last year, one of whom was suspected of rioting during an incident in which he was attacked by a mob. Police said Democratic Party lawmakers Lam Cheuk-ting and Ted Hui were among 16 people arrested. Lam was arrested on suspicion of rioting on July 21, 2019, when a mob of over 100 men wielding sticks and poles attacked pro-democracy protesters, journalists and bystanders at a train station in the Yuen Long district, near the mainland border.
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| 2 New Jersey cops admitted they dressed in disguises and vandalized the cars of a man who filed complaints against them Posted: 26 Aug 2020 10:55 AM PDT  The two Asbury Park cops, who smashed car windows, pleaded guilty to criminal fourth-degree criminal mischief. They can't work as officers anymore.
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| Nikki Haley tried to argue the U.S. isn’t racist — but she just proved the opposite point Posted: 26 Aug 2020 02:55 AM PDT  "America is not a racist country. This is personal for me," said ex-UN Ambassador Nikki Haley
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| Viral videos show Black Lives Matter protesters confronting diners in Washington, D.C. Posted: 26 Aug 2020 02:16 PM PDT  Black Lives Matter protesters faced online backlash after video captured a group confronting diners at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.
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| China firm over detention of 2 Canadians after FMs meet Posted: 26 Aug 2020 02:59 AM PDT  China said Wednesday it remains firm in its insistence that Canada make the first move to end the detention of two Canadians, following a meeting of the two countries' foreign ministers. Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor have been held in China on unspecified national security charges for more than 620 days in apparent retaliation for Canada's late 2018 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, an executive at tech giant Huawei and the daughter of the company's founder.
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| Passenger tramples gate attendant at Seattle airport after mask run-in, police say Posted: 26 Aug 2020 07:50 AM PDT  The Folsom, California, man faces misdemeanor assault charges, police say.
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| The Best Duvet Covers That Are Also Better for the Planet Posted: 26 Aug 2020 12:58 PM PDT |
| Live: Half a million evacuated amid fears of 'unsurvivable storm surge' when storm makes landfall as Category 4 Posted: 26 Aug 2020 05:47 AM PDT  Hurricane Laura, that is due to make landfall in Louisiana and Texas on Wednesday is predicted to be ungraded to a Category 4 hurricane later today before it hits the US.The hurricane was upgraded to a Category 3 overnight on Wednesday, but satellite images show that it has grown into "a formidable hurricane", according to the National Hurricane Centre.
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| Vehicle collision with Russians injures 4 U.S. troops in eastern Syria Posted: 26 Aug 2020 02:57 PM PDT  In the most violent skirmish in months between U.S. and Russian forces in Syria, a vehicle collision in the eastern part of the war-torn country left American troops with concussions, two U.S. officials said Wednesday.
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| Trump Isn’t Building a Case Against Biden. He’s Running a Convention to Troll the Press. Posted: 25 Aug 2020 09:04 PM PDT  On the second night of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump resorted once again to the favorite trick in his bag: a televised surprise. An impromptu naturalization ceremony put on as part of the Tuesday night festivities was, as a political matter, an attempt to show a softer side of a president with one of the most anti-immigration records in recent memory. It also appeared to be a finely tuned bit of trolling; the act itself was likely a violation of federal law that prohibits government employees from using taxpayer resources for political purposes (though the White House insisted it wasn't). And it gave Trump and his legions of devoted fans a reason to tweet American flag emojis and make fun of political reporters who noted the flagrant misuse of taxpayer resources. In fact, Trump's aides and advisers revel in their increasingly frequent violations of the Hatch Act. Senior Trump administration officials widely view the law as a joke, and have often traded quips over how consequence-free their infractions have been and how much Democrats harp on the violations, two ex-officials said. Some Trump lieutenants have privately bragged about their alleged violations as a proud rite of passage.> Liberals are more upset about the use of government buildings than they ever were about the use of the FBI to target political opponents.> > — Tim Murtaugh - Download the Trump 2020 app today! (@TimMurtaugh) August 26, 2020Tuesday night's naturalization ceremony, which featured acting Department of Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf acting in an apparently official capacity, was the most egregious flouting of the law during the festivities. But it was just one of a handful of convention events that blurred the line between the Trump administration and its political machine. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's televised speech from a Jerusalem rooftop also drew allegations of Hatch Act violations, and early on in Tuesday evening's programming, Trump touted his pardon power and its beneficiaries as a political selling point while standing inside the White House.The flouting of the law fit neatly with the message of the night. Tuesday's programming wasn't so much about attacking Joe Biden or promoting Trump as it was to exhibit abhorrence of liberalism, defiance of elitist norms, and a big middle finger to media-driven conformity. If the press was triggered into a fit of hyperventilation in the process, all the better. The average American voter doesn't know or much care what the Hatch Act is anyway.GOP Says Vote Trump... or Get a Marxist HellscapeOver the course of the evening, speakers denounced tech giants and political correctness. They painted the press corps as corrupt and framed the president as a culture warrior whose appetite for fighting was a virtue not a detriment. "I'm proud to watch you give them hell," Eric Trump, the president's son, said at one point, directly addressing his father. But perhaps no speaker on Tuesday more clearly exemplified the goal of the night than Nicholas Sandmann. The recent Kentucky high school graduate recounted how he found himself a culture war lighting rod when he donned a "Make America Great Again" hat and stared down a Native American activist during a demonstration at the March for Life last year. After a day of denunciations from pundits and politicians who claimed he incited the confrontation, video emerged undercutting the story, and Sandmann sued a host of media outlets for defamation over the episode. He's won settlements from CNN and The Washington Post, with additional litigation ongoing. "I learned that what was happening to me had a name. It was called being canceled," Sandmann said on Tuesday. "Canceled is what's happening to people around this country who refuse to be silenced by the far left... I will not be cancelled."The denunciations of "cancel culture" were echoed in some form by other convention speakers. "If you care about living your life without restraints, about rebelling against those who would suppress your voice, and building YOUR American Dream," Tiffany Trump, the president's daughter, said at one point, "then the choice in this election is clear."It's a theme that's expected to continue through Thursday, when the convention wraps up, and its prominence is due largely to Trump's view—and that of his pollsters and political advisers—that it's an issue that could help get him over the electoral finish line.According to two people with knowledge of the situation, Team Trump had recently commissioned polling specifically on the topic of "cancel culture," and found numbers they saw as reassuring. Polling was conducted in July and August and focused on questions on political correctness and "cancel culture" in Big Tech, entertainment, and news media and on college campuses, one of the sources said. The data was presented directly to the president multiple times, including earlier this month. And he has privately delighted in the numbers, insisting that this could be an issue that speaks to voters beyond his standard GOP and conservative base voting blocs."President Trump made clear that he believes that we can win [in part based on the internal data] on this issue, law and order, tax cuts, and China and the virus," one of the knowledgeable sources said. "He thinks cancel culture is tearing communities apart and suppressing conservative voices."That anti-"cancel culture" theme, though, didn't save one of Tuesday evening's scheduled speakers from being canceled at the hands of the convention itself. Hours before the evening's festivities began, The Daily Beast reported that Mary Ann Mendoza, a Trump campaign advisory board member and scheduled convention speaker, had, on Tuesday morning, urged her Twitter followers to look into an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory involving Jewish world domination. The Republican National Committee subsequently pulled her video address from the event.In her prepared remarks, which were never actually delivered, Mendoza hailed the "brighter future that President Trump will continue fighting for when we re-elect him on November third."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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| Disneyland 'ready' to reopen when California allows, parks chief says Posted: 26 Aug 2020 01:23 PM PDT  Disney's theme parks chief said the company is ready to reopen Disneyland as soon as California officials establish health and safety guidelines.
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| Moderna COVID-19 vaccine appears to work as well in older adults in early study Posted: 26 Aug 2020 07:42 AM PDT  The latest data from an early Phase I study includes an analysis from 20 additional people detailing how the vaccine performed in older adults. The analysis looked at subjects given the 100-microgram dose being tested in the much larger Phase III trial. Moderna said the immune responses in those aged between ages 56 and 70, above age 70 and those 18 to 55-years-old were similar.
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| Court: School transgender bathroom policy unconstitutional Posted: 26 Aug 2020 10:34 AM PDT  A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a Virginia school board's transgender bathroom ban is unconstitutional and discriminated against a transgender male student who was barred from using the boys bathrooms in his high school. The ruling is a victory for transgender rights advocates and Gavin Grimm, a former student at Gloucester High School who was required to use restrooms that corresponded with his biological sex — female — or private bathrooms. The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Gloucester County School Board violated Grimm's constitutional rights when it banned him from using the boys bathrooms.
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| Cissie Graham Lynch attacks trans rights in RNC speech Posted: 26 Aug 2020 06:29 AM PDT  Lynch, the granddaughter of late evangelical pastor Billy Graham, referred to transgender girls as "boys" in her Republican National Convention speech.
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| The Sturgis motorcycle rally that experts warned would be a coronavirus superspreader event has been linked to 100 new cases in 8 states Posted: 26 Aug 2020 11:57 AM PDT  Smash Mouth headlined a concert at the motorcycle rally in South Dakota that's led to dozens of new cases in at least eight states.
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| Congolese poacher accused of killing 500 elephants sentenced to 30 years' hard labour Posted: 26 Aug 2020 10:15 AM PDT  A poacher who is believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 500 elephants will spend the next 30 years in forced labour after he was convicted of ivory trafficking and attempting to kill park rangers in the Republic of Congo. Mobanza Mobembo Gérard has been dubbed 'the butcher of Nouabale Ndoki' National Park, a swathe of rainforest two and a half times the size of Greater London which stretches across the Congo Republic's borders into the Central African Republic and Cameroon. It is believed that Gérard, 35, first started hunting expeditions in 2008 and soon led a team of around 25 poachers through the bush to kill hundreds of rare forest elephants with military-grade weapons. The poaching chief, who is originally from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, was convicted last week by a court in the Congo Republic's Sangha region, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WSC), an NGO. The Telegraph understands that Gérard has been surrounded or imprisoned several times by rangers over the last three years but has always managed to either shoot his way out or escape prison. His trial and sentencing marked the first criminal conviction of a wildlife trafficker in the Republic of Congo. Previously, environmental crimes were tried in civil courts and incurred a maximum sentence of five years. Gérard will also be required to pay damages of $68,000 (£51,710) to injured rangers. "This detention is a major first in the battle against poaching and illegal smuggling of wildlife products," said Richard Malonga, the head of WCS Congo which works in the Nouabale Ndoki park. "This creates opportunities to criminalise acts of poaching, and punish poachers even more severely." The sentence "sends an extremely strong message that wildlife crime will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted at the highest levels," WCS regional director Emma Stokes said in a statement on Monday. Nouabale Ndoki National Park in the north of the Congo Republic was created in 1993 and was named as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2012. It is a rare sanctuary in central Africa for endangered forest elephants, gorillas and chimpanzees. A hundred years ago, there were an estimated 10 million elephants who roamed across Africa's savvanahs and forests. But thanks to the lucrative ivory trade, poaching has decimated the continent's elephant population. There are now only an estimated 350,000 elephants left in Africa and approximately 10 to 15,000 of them are killed every year for their ivory tusks. Most of the ivory is shipped to East Asia where a booming middle class use it in jewellery, ornaments and sometimes in traditional Chinese medicine. China has historically been the biggest buyer of ivory but demand there has reportedly fallen significantly since Beijing banned the ivory trade at the end of 2017. However, last week wildlife conservationists, rangers and safari tour guides told The Telegraph that poaching and bushmeat hunting has been surging across parts of Eastern and Southern Africa since the world went into lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus. Rangers in Kenya, another major wildlife sanctuary, told the newspaper that the pandemic has wrought havoc on many rural communities who often depend on tourism revenue to put food on the table. With the tourism revenue almost completely gone, the rangers said that many people were turning to bushmeat hunting or commercial poaching to feed their families.
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| A Florida man who thought the coronavirus was 'blown out of proportion' lost his wife to it Posted: 25 Aug 2020 07:38 AM PDT  Brian Lee Hitchens said he and his wife, Erin, had believed false claims circulating on social media that downplayed the disease COVID-19.
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| ‘Catch-up’ stimulus checks to be sent out soon, IRS says. Here’s who will get them Posted: 26 Aug 2020 09:23 AM PDT  About 50,000 people will receive the payments, the IRS says.
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| Fact check: 'Sharia patrol force' won't roam Minneapolis if police force is dismantled Posted: 26 Aug 2020 12:18 PM PDT  A distortion of one state representative's unfounded claims led some to believe a 'Sharia patrol force' will soon police Minneapolis. It won't.
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| China warns of 'shadow' over ties with Australia, tells it to stop whining Posted: 26 Aug 2020 12:06 AM PDT  A top Chinese diplomat in Australia warned against a "shadow" over the two nations' ties on Wednesday, saying that Beijing was disappointed by a Chinese firm's failure to win Australian regulatory approval for a takeover deal. Tension between Australia and its main export market of China has risen in recent months, particularly after Canberra called for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. Wang Xining, China's deputy head of mission in Canberra, dismissed concerns about China's attempts to influence Australian politics, saying its views were candidly presented and did not affect people's choice of a political system.
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| Thai court issues new arrest warrant for Red Bull scion Posted: 25 Aug 2020 06:30 AM PDT  A Thai court issued a new arrest warrant on Tuesday for an heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune, a month after news of the dropping of a long-standing charge against him caused widespread anger. Assistant National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Jaruwat Waisay confirmed that Vorayuth Yoovidhya, commonly known by the nickname "Boss," faces charges of causing death by negligent driving and use of a narcotic substance. Vorayuth is the grandson of Chaleo Yoovidhya, one of the creators of the globally famous Red Bull brand.
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| Hillary Clinton tells Joe Biden not to concede election ‘under any circumstances’ Posted: 25 Aug 2020 10:32 AM PDT  Hillary Clinton has urged Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to "not concede under any circumstances," in November's presidential election, as she believes the results are "going to drag out," because of mail-in voting.Officials from both the Democratic and Republican parties have called for voting by mail to be implemented for November's presidential election, due to logistical concerns around the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
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| Hundreds of university students have been suspended for violating COVID safety policies as cases rise across college campuses Posted: 25 Aug 2020 04:41 PM PDT  More than 220 students were suspended at Ohio State University for failing to observe guidelines, and at Syracuse University, 23 students were suspended for gathering on the campus's quad last week.
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| A 3-pound fish was worth $1,000 for this Idaho angler, officials say. Here’s how Posted: 25 Aug 2020 03:58 PM PDT  Anglers who catch a tagged fish get $1,000 and there are 95 tagged fish still available in the "walleye lottery."
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| 'The rules go out the window': Democrats deride RNC over Hatch Act, coronavirus and transgender issues Posted: 26 Aug 2020 11:26 AM PDT  Democrats denounced the use of the White House and executive functions for partisan purposes, and decried efforts to put the pandemic in the past.
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| Groups sue Trump administration over rule on hunting in Alaska preserves Posted: 26 Aug 2020 03:29 PM PDT  Thirteen environmental groups sued the Trump administration on Wednesday seeking to overturn a rule allowing hunters in Alaska national preserves to bait bears, kill wolf pups in dens and engage in other controversial practices. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, targets a National Park Service rule change made final in June, claiming it violates the agency's primary purpose. "The century-old governing mission of the National Park Service includes protecting America's ecosystems and wildlife, not turning lands into massive game farms," Jim Adams, Alaska regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, a plaintiff in the case, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
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| Phoenix OKs payout after police point guns over stolen doll Posted: 26 Aug 2020 01:15 PM PDT  The Phoenix City Council agreed Wednesday to pay a settlement to a Black couple who had police officers point guns at them in front of their children last year after their young daughter took a doll from a store without their knowledge. Iesha Harper said at a news conference that she and Dravon Ames will receive $475,000. The claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, alleged excessive force by police and a violation of the family's civil rights.
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