| Trump accuses California Democrats of 'incredible stupidity' in row over John Wayne's white supremacy remarks Posted: 29 Jun 2020 06:12 AM PDT  Donald Trump is accusing some Democratic officials of "incredible stupidity" for calling for actor John Wayne's name to be removed from an airport in California even after an interview resurfaced of "The Duke" embracing white supremacy.John Wayne Airport in southern California serves Orange County and Los Angeles. Mr Trump in January 2016, as a presidential candidate, held a special event at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset, Iowa. He spoke at a lectern with a wax statue of the late actor behind him.
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| More than 70 San Antonio police officers in coronavirus quarantine, department says Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:35 AM PDT  The spike corresponds with a large increase in the city's coronavirus numbers.
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| National parks – even Mount Rushmore – show that there's more than one kind of patriotism Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:43 AM PDT  July 4th will be quieter than usual this year, thanks to COVID-19. Many U.S. cities are canceling fireworks displays to avoid drawing large crowds that could promote the spread of coronavirus. But President Trump is planning to stage a celebration at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota on July 3. It's easy to see why an Independence Day event at a national memorial featuring the carved faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt would seem like a straightforward patriotic statement. But there's controversy. Trump's visit will be capped by fireworks for the first time in a decade, notwithstanding worries that pyrotechnics could ignite wildfires. And Native Americans are planning protests, adding Mount Rushmore to the list of monuments around the world that critics see as commemorating histories of racism, slavery and genocide and reinforcing white supremacy. As I show in my book, "Memorials Matter: Emotion, Environment, and Public Memory at American Historical Sites," many venerated historical sites tell complicated stories. Even Mount Rushmore, which was designed explicitly to evoke national pride, can be a source of anger or shame rather than patriotic feeling. Twenty-first-century patriotism is a touchy subject, increasingly claimed by America's conservative right. National Park Service sites like Mount Rushmore are public lands, meant to be appreciated by everyone, but they raise crucial questions about history, unity and love of country, especially during this election year. For me, and I suspect for many tourists, national memorials and monuments elicit conflicting feelings. There's pride in our nation's achievements, but also guilt, regret or anger over the costs of progress and the injustices that still exist. Patriotism, especially at sites of shame, can be unsettling – and I see this as a good thing. In my view, honestly confronting the darker parts of U.S. history as well as its best moments is vital for tourism, for patriotism and for the nation. Whose history?Patriotism has roots in the Latin "patriotia," meaning "fellow countryman." It's common to feel patriotic pride in U.S. technological achievements or military strength. But Americans also glory in the diversity and beauty of our natural landscapes. That kind of patriotism, I think, has the potential to be more inclusive, less divisive and more socially and environmentally just. [Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter and get expert takes on today's news, every day.]The physical environment at national memorials can inspire more than one kind of patriotism. At Mount Rushmore, tourists are invited to walk the Avenue of Flags, marvel at the labor required to carve four U.S. presidents' faces out of granite, and applaud when rangers invite military veterans onstage during visitor programs. Patriotism centers on labor, progress and the "great men" the memorial credits with founding, expanding, preserving and unifying the U.S. But there are other perspectives. Viewed from the Peter Norbeck Overlook, a short drive from the main site, the presidents' faces are tiny elements embedded in the expansive Black Hills region. Re-seeing the memorial in space and contextualizing it within a longer time scale can spark new emotions. The Black Hills are a sacred place for Lakota peoples that they never willingly relinquished. Viewing Mount Rushmore this way puts those rock faces in a broader ecological, historical and colonial context, and raises questions about history and justice. Sites of shameSites where visitors are meant to feel remorse challenge patriotism more directly. At Manzanar National Historic Site in California – one of 10 camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II – natural and textual cues prevent any easy patriotic reflexes. Reconstructed guard towers and barracks help visitors perceive the experience of being detained. I could imagine Japanese Americans' shame as I entered claustrophobic buildings and touched the rough straw that filled makeshift mattresses. Many visitors doubtlessly associate mountains with adventure and freedom, but some incarcerees saw the nearby Sierra Nevada as barricades reinforcing the camp's barbed wire fence. Rangers play up these emotional tensions on their tours. I saw one ranger position a group of schoolchildren atop what were once latrines, and ask them: "Will it happen again? We don't know. We hope not. We have to stand up for what is right." Instead of offering visitors a self-congratulatory sense of being a good citizen, Manzanar leaves them with unsettling questions and mixed feelings. Visitors to incarceration camps today might make connections to the U.S.-Mexico border, where detention centers corral people in unhealthy conditions, sometimes separating children from parents. Sites like Manzanar ask us to rethink who "counts" as an American and what unites us as human beings. Visiting and writing about these and other sites made me consider what it would take to disassociate patriotism from "America first"-style nationalism and recast it as collective pride in the United States' diverse landscapes and peoples. Building a more inclusive patriotism means celebrating freedom in all forms – such as making Juneteenth a federal holiday – and commemorating the tragedies of our past in ways that promote justice in the present. Humble patriotismThis July 4th invites contemplation of what holds us together as a nation during a time of reckoning. I believe Americans should be willing to imagine how a public memorial could be offensive or traumatic. The National Park Service website claims that Mount Rushmore preserves a "rich heritage we all share," but what happens when that heritage feels like hatred to some people? Growing momentum for removing statues of Confederate generals and other historical figures now understood to be racist, including the statue of Theodore Roosevelt in the front of New York City's Museum of Natural History, tests the limits of national coherence. Understanding this momentum is not an issue of political correctness – it's a matter of compassion.Greater clarity about value systems could help unite Americans across party lines. Psychologists have found striking differences between the moral frameworks that shape liberals' and conservatives' views. Conservatives generally prioritize purity, sanctity and loyalty, while liberals tend to value justice in the form of concerns about fairness and harm. In my view, patriotism could function as an emotional bridge between these moral foundations. My research suggests that visits to memorial sites are helpful for recognizing our interdependence with each other, as inhabitants of a common country. Places like Mount Rushmore are part of our collective past that raise important questions about what unites us today. I believe it's our responsibility to approach these places, and each other, with both pride and humility. This is an updated version of an article originally published on June 26, 2019.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * More than scenery: National parks preserve our history and culture * The twisted roots of U.S. land policy in the WestJennifer Ladino received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support her book on national memorials.
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| Minneapolis Spends Thousands on Private Security for City Councilmen amid Calls to ‘Defund’ the Police Posted: 29 Jun 2020 05:04 AM PDT  Minneapolis has spent over $63,000 to provide private security for members of its city council, which has been outspoken in calls to defund the police department following the death of George Floyd.Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8), Phillipe Cunningham (Ward 4), and Alondra Cano (Ward 9) are being provided details that cost $4,500 a day, a city spokesperson confirmed to local outlet FOX9.While Cano did not return a request for comment, Cunningham said he was not "comfortable publicly discussing the death threats against me," but said the security was temporary. Jenkins — an African American man who identifies as a woman — told FOX9 that the security was over concern for "the large number of white nationalist(s) in our city and other threatening communications I've been receiving."A Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson told FOX9 that the police had not been made aware of any threats against city council members.The city spokesperson explained that the current measures are "a temporary bridge" to more formal procedures for council members, and are not expected to pass $175,000, which would require official approval by the City Council.Last week, the Minneapolis City Council voted 12-0 to further advance a proposal for dismantling the city's police department. City Council president Lisa Bender has argued in response to questions over safety that fear comes from "a place of privilege.""I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm instead," she told CNN earlier this month.
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| Call for UN probe over reports that China forces birth control on Uighurs to suppress population Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:32 PM PDT  The Chinese government is allegedly taking forceful measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, according to an alarming new report on aggressive birth control policies in China's Xinjiang province. The report by China scholar Adrian Zenz, released on Monday, has prompted a coalition of leading international politicians to call for an independent United Nations investigation into human rights abuses in Xinjiang, to prevent the further suffering of the Uighur people. A statement by the interparliamentary alliance on China (IPAC) cites "a body of mounting evidence" of alleged "mass incarceration, indoctrination, extrajudicial detention, invasive surveillance, forced labour, and the destruction of Uighur cultural sites," as the basis for action by the UN General Assembly. Professor Zenz's new research suggests that the sudden fall in Uighur birthrates coincides with reports of a Chinese state policy of intrusive birth prevention, including female sterilisation.
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| 'Enough': 1 killed in shooting in Seattle's protest zone Posted: 29 Jun 2020 07:21 AM PDT  A 16-year-old boy was killed and and a younger teenager was wounded early Monday in Seattle's "occupied" protest zone — the second deadly shooting in the area that local officials have vowed to change after business complaints and criticism from President Donald Trump. The violence that came just over a week after another shooting in the zone left one person dead and another wounded was "dangerous and unacceptable" police Chief Carmen Best said. Demonstrators have occupied several blocks around the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct and a park for about two weeks after police abandoned the precinct following standoffs and clashes with protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality.
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| A Closer Look at William Wegman’s Picture-Perfect Postcard Art Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:35 AM PDT |
| Russia denies nuclear incident after international body detects isotopes Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:15 AM PDT  Russia said on Monday it had detected no sign of a radiation emergency, after an international body reported last week that sensors in Stockholm had picked up unusually high levels of radioactive isotopes produced by nuclear fission. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which monitors the world for evidence of nuclear weapons tests, said last week one of its stations scanning the air for radioactive particles had found unusual, although harmless, levels of caesium-134, caesium-137 and ruthenium-103. The isotopes were "certainly nuclear fission products, most likely from a civil source", it said.
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| Huntsman at risk of shocking defeat in Utah Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:19 PM PDT  After a decade away from Utah politics and a weeks-long fight with the coronavirus, the former governor is locked in a tight race for his old job.
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| Syed Ali Geelani: Kashmir leader quits Hurriyat Conference Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:47 AM PDT  Syed Ali Geelani has been heading political opposition to Indian rule in Kashmir for decades.
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| 2 Oklahoma police officers shot, suspect taken into custody Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:43 AM PDT  Two police officers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were shot and critically wounded on the city's east side Monday morning and police arrested the suspected gunman following a more than seven-hour search, authorities said. David Anthony Ware, 32, was arrested about 10:45 a.m., said Capt. Richard Meulenberg. The officers — Sgt. Craig Johnson and rookie officer Aurash Zarkeshan — remained in critical condition Monday afternoon and were "fighting for their lives," said Police Chief Wendell Franklin.
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| Coming Soon: Russian Bombers (Now Armed with Hypersonic Missiles?) Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:30 PM PDT  Hypersonic missiles have been seen as a potential game changer, with some in the U.S. military warning that there is really no defense against the missiles due to their speed.
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| President Trump shares video of seniors yelling, 'White power' and 'F*** Trump' at one another Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:54 AM PDT  President Trump promoted a video Sunday that featured clashing protesters, one of whom chants, "White power."
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| No symptoms, big problems: Scientists still puzzled by asymptomatic coronavirus cases Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:07 PM PDT  Months into a pandemic that has killed nearly 500,000 people worldwide, scientists are still trying to answer crucial questions about the coronavirus.
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| Chinese coronavirus vaccine approved for use in country's military after clinical trials Posted: 29 Jun 2020 07:03 AM PDT  China's military has approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by its own research staff and a Chinese biotech firm, it was announced on Monday. The vaccine was given the green light for use by troops after trials proved it was both safe and effective, said CanSino Biologics, the biotech firm involved. However, its use for the time being will be restricted to military personnel, who offer a tighter medical control group than the general public. The vaccine candidate, named Ad5-nCoV, was developed jointly by CanSino and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology in the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. It has been in development since March. CanSino said the results showed the vaccine candidate has potential to prevent diseases caused by the coronavirus, which has killed half a million people globally. The company added that it was not yet possible to say if it could be a commercial success, which would depend on being able to produce the vaccine cheaply as well as safely.
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| After Asking Americans to Sacrifice in Shutdown, Leaders Failed to Control Virus Posted: 28 Jun 2020 08:15 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- More than four months into fighting the coronavirus in the United States, the shared sacrifice of millions of Americans suspending their lives -- with jobs lost, businesses shuttered, daily routines upended -- has not been enough to beat back a virus whose staying power around the world is only still being grasped.The number of new U.S. cases this last week surged dangerously high, to levels not ever seen in the course of the pandemic, especially in states that had rushed to reopen their economies. The result has been a realization for many Americans that however much they have yearned for a return to normalcy, their leaders have failed to control the coronavirus pandemic. And there is little clarity on what comes next."There has to be a clear coherent sustained communication, and that has absolutely not happened," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "We've had just the opposite and now it's hard to unring a whole series of bells."There was "real hubris" on the part of public health officials at the very start, Schaffner said, that the United States could lock down and contain the virus as China had. That futile hope helped create an unrealistic expectation that the shutdown, while intense, would not be for long, and that when it was lifted life would return to normal.That expectation was reinforced by President Donald Trump, who has downplayed the severity of the crisis, refused to wear a mask and began calling for states to open even as the virus was surging. A lack of federal leadership also meant that states lacked a unified approach.With no clear message from the top, states went their own ways. A number of them failed to use the shutdown to fully prepare to reopen in a careful manner. As Americans bought precious time trying to keep the virus at bay, experts advised that states urgently needed to establish a robust system for tracking and containing any new cases -- through testing, monitoring and contact tracing. Without this, the pandemic would simply come roaring back.Testing and contact tracing efforts were ramped up, but not enough in some places. Even states that did embark on ambitious plans to do contact tracing struggled. Health officials in Massachusetts, which has one of the country's most established tracing programs, said in May that only about 60% of infected patients were picking up the phone.Just as the country needed to stay shut down longer, many states -- mostly with Republican governors -- took their foot off the brake, and Trump cheered them on.In early May, when more than half of U.S. states had begun reopening parts of their economies, most failed to meet the nonbinding criteria recommended by the Trump administration itself to resume business and social activities.The White House's nonbinding guidelines suggested that states should have a "downward trajectory" of either documented coronavirus cases or of the percentage of positive tests.Yet most states that were reopening failed to adhere to even these ill-defined recommendations. They had case counts that were trending upward, positive test results that were rising, or both, raising concerns among public health experts.The virus has proved formidable around the world, resisting global efforts to find a treatment, refusing to fade in summer weather and unrelenting in exploiting weaknesses in government responses, even in countries whose responses to the virus have been considered a success -- and where the threat seemed tamed.Germany, whose handling of the virus was considered a success, had to reimpose lockdowns on two counties where there was a spike of cases in slaughterhouses and low-income housing blocks. Singapore experienced a second wave of infections in April.And in China, which adopted some of the world's strictest measures to contain the virus, Beijing suffered this month a new surge of cases, causing flights to be canceled and schools to be closed.Much of the challenge stems from major gaps in knowledge about how the virus works. In addition to chasing a vaccine, scientists around the world are still trying to unravel important mysteries, including how long immunity lasts after infection and why some people get so much sicker than others.For Americans, a troubling new reality set in this week: Even as some parts of the country, like New York, were finally getting the virus under control, it was surging anew in others, like a terrifying sequel, threatening lives and livelihoods.New virus cases were on the rise in 29 states Friday as the outlook worsened across much of the nation's South and West.On Saturday, Florida reported more than 9,500 new coronavirus cases, beating its record for the second consecutive day. At least 980 new cases were added in Nevada, more than double the state's previous daily high. And in South Carolina, officials announced more than 1,600 new cases, nearly 300 more than the previous record, set a day before.In Florida and Texas, governors closed bars Friday, as they scrambled to control what appeared to be a brewing public health catastrophe. All this is leaving people with a strange sense of deja vu and a bitterness at public officials for what felt like a fumbling of people's sacrifices."Are we doing a full circle? Yes," said Judy Ray, 57, a cosmetologist and hairdresser in Florida who was laid off from her job at a barbershop at Walt Disney World Resort in March."Everyone is passing the buck," she said of political leaders in Florida. "You don't see the chain of command actually working."Ray, a Disney employee for 13 years, said she had not received any unemployment benefits -- federal or state, in the 10 weeks she has been off. She has called the unemployment office hundreds of times since March, including this week, when she said she broke down into tears of frustration after being told her case was still pending. She has sliced $200 out of her monthly budget and has been paying her mortgage from her savings."I don't think they care about what we've had to go through," Ray said of state authorities. "It means that we are the ones that hurt. You know?"Many Americans started in the pandemic with a strong feeling of solidarity, not unlike the days after 9/11. They closed their businesses, stayed inside, made masks and wiped down their groceries. In a country often riven by politics, polls showed broad agreement that shutting down was the right thing to do.But months of mixed messages have left many exhausted and wondering how much of what they did was worth it.Tony Jacobs, owner and proprietor of Sideshow Books, a used book store in Los Angeles, said in the early weeks of the lockdown he had taken to delivering books by bike around the neighborhood in a mask and gloves."I thought it would be an effective way to stop the virus -- if we just locked down for two or three weeks, we could knock it out of LA," he said. "I felt that was the civic duty, and that everybody was going to be compensated for doing the civic duty."The plight of California has served as a warning that even states that were more aggressive in their strategies have not been entirely successful.California, which had the first stay-at-home order in the United States this spring, allowed businesses to reopen weeks ago as the state felt it had the virus under control. That seems to be changing: California reported its highest single-day total this week and announced more than 5,600 new cases Friday.The rise comes despite the fact that the state has hired and trained thousands of contact tracers. It has also dramatically ramped up testing. And the millions of face masks that were promised early on have begun to finally materialize.Jacobs felt the lockdown had been squandered and his business hung out to dry. As for whether Jacobs' sacrifices were worth it, he said, "Oh God, no."In recent weeks, some conservatives said they had an additional concern: After weeks of being told that going to church, attending funerals, and participating in protests was a willful, careless spurning of science, political leaders and some public health officials condoned -- and even joined -- the crowds protesting the killing of George Floyd."It's just a real social whiplash," said Philip Campbell, vice president of a pest control company in Central Michigan, who took part in the first protests against the lockdown in Lansing in April from the cab of his truck. "Two weeks ago you can't go out because you are going to kill grandma. Now it's 'you have an obligation to go out.' It leaves me feeling that the science and the public health authorities have been politicized."Americans' trust in the federal government has been falling for decades, but the recent months of muddied messaging have left many even more skeptical of public officials."I'm not angry, I'm disappointed, disappointed in the government, very much so," said Gail Creary, who owns Humble Care, an assisted living facility in south Miami-Dade County, Florida. She and her sister take care of six older adults in a three-bedroom house in the suburbs. "I think they should really have taken better control of this."She laments that there isn't more widespread testing and contact tracing. She wonders why other countries have done a better job than the United States has. Her home country of Jamaica did better, she said."We have a governor who can't even say, 'Hey we're making wearing a mask mandatory,' " she said."What did America do with that time?"Schaffner offered a bleak prognosis for the country's next chapter with the virus. He said he did not expect the country to return to a full lockdown, so in order to contain the infection people would have to begin to change behaviors in ways that were uncomfortable, unfamiliar -- wearing masks, not gathering in large groups indoors, staying 6 feet apart."The only alternative until we have a vaccine is all of these behavioral interventions that we know work," he said. But, he added, "The governors are all on different pages. It is no wonder that the average person is confused."Silvana Salcido Esparza, 59, chef and owner of Barrio Cafe in Phoenix, said a group of restaurant owners asked the governor to keep the state closed for longer, but it opened anyway -- as did most restaurants. Now when she drives by, she sees "they are packed, there's no social distancing inside."She said she spent her retirement money trying to keep her business afloat, but in April, had to close her newest restaurant, Barrio Cafe Gran Reserva."I had to sacrifice it," she said, noting ruefully that it had been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. "I'm almost 60. I was going to retire in two years. That's not going to happen now."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Mississippi lawmakers vote to remove Confederate emblem from state flag Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:20 PM PDT  The state's Republican Governor, Tate Reeves, said Saturday that he would sign the bill if the legislature passed it. "We are better today than we were yesterday," Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, who authored the bill that passed on Sunday, told the non-profit news organization Mississippi Today. In the 19th century, Southern states, faced with the prospect of having to give up slavery, formed the Confederacy and broke away from the United States, leading to the 1861-1865 Civil War.
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| Supreme Court clears way for federal executions to resume Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:05 AM PDT  Attorney General William Barr announced last year the federal government would conduct its first executions since 2003 using the drug pentobarbital.
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| President Trump on 'Fox Nation Presents: What Made America Great,' Part 2 Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:52 PM PDT  Host Brian Kilmeade gets an exclusive tour of the Oval Office featuring President Trump.
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| Minneapolis police chief, mayor launching policy changes Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:16 PM PDT  The Minneapolis police chief and mayor on Sunday began their push for sweeping policy changes with a new rule that prevents officers involved in using deadly force from reviewing body camera footage before completing an initial police report. The new standards come after a proposal by the Minneapolis City Council to dismantle the police force following the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed Black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes.
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| These 5 Weapons Made Nazi Germany a Military Superpower Posted: 29 Jun 2020 06:15 AM PDT  Hitler's most fearsome weapons.
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| Exclusive: NRA has shed 200 staffers this year as group faces financial crisis Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Gun rights organization may struggle to support Trump in 2020 election amid layoffs and furloughsAfter spending over $30m to help elect Donald Trump in 2016, the National Rifle Association faces a deepening financial crisis with over 200 staff layoffs and furloughs in 2020, according to three NRA sources, gun analysts and documents.The situation is likely to hinder efforts by the gun rights group to help Trump and other Republicans win in November's election.The 200-plus layoffs and furloughs, which have not previously been reported and were mainly at NRA headquarters in Virginia, were spurred by declines in revenues and fundraising, heavy legal spending, political infighting, and charges of insider self-dealing under scrutiny by attorneys general in New York and Washington DC, the sources say."The widespread Covid layoffs and furloughs have further harmed both the NRA's legal capacity and political influence beyond what was already a troubling deterioration," said one NRA official who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters. The official added the outlook this year for NRA political spending was "deeply concerning."NRA staff learned about the furloughs, plus 20% staff pay cuts, four-day work weeks and other belt tightening, in an April email from Wayne LaPierre, the longtime top executive of the NRA, which claims it has 5 million members.LaPierre's email to the "NRA family" said "we have lost significant revenue" and linked the austerity moves to the pandemic's stay-at-home orders. The email said the NRA hoped to bring back those furloughed when its finances improved.The NRA declined to comment on the extent of the layoffs and furloughs, which sources said were continuing.The NRA's financial problems were palpable long before the pandemic but have increased due to a few factors, including the cancellation of a number of NRA fundraising dinners following the onset of Covid-19.The NRA typically pulls in tens of millions of dollars yearly from Friends of NRA dinners in many states, but most were canceled after January and February, said the sources.The NRA's woes, say gun analysts, are expected to sharply reduce spending this year compared with the $30m the group spent on ads to help Trump win in 2016. They are also likely to mean cuts to its once formidable get out the vote operations in key states that historically provide big boosts to GOP candidates. Overall in 2016, the NRA spent close to $70m on ads and voter mobilization drives, say NRA sources.In 2018, the NRA's financial problems caused it to spend a relatively lackluster $9.4m on the midterm elections, and gun control groups outspent the NRA for the first time, which analysts say helped the Democrats win the House majority."The NRA is entering the summer and fall campaign with a series of crippling financial, legal, and political problems," said Robert Spitzer, a political science professor at Cortland State University in New York.Spitzer added: "As its anemic political spending in the 2018 midterm election showed, they will not be able to match anything like the roughly $70m they spent in 2016, as they continue to be plagued by a major revenue shortfall, a fact exacerbated by the impact of the coronavirus shutdown."The drop in revenues accelerated in 2019 when several large NRA donors began a drive to oust LaPierre over allegations of mismanagement and self-dealing, and to promote reforms. The website helpsavethenra.com, which is headlined "Retire LaPierre", boasted in December that $165m in donations and planned gifts had been withheld.The donor revolt has been spurred in part by several reports of lavish personal spending by LaPierre. The Wall Street Journal revealed last year that according to the NRA's former ad firm Ackerman McQueen, which has been in legal battles with the NRA and LaPierre, he took about $240,000 worth of trips to Italy, Hungary, the Bahamas and other locales that were charged to the ad firm. The Journal reported that the ad firm had paid for about $200,000 in expensive suits for LaPierre, including some from a Beverly Hills boutique.LaPierre's yearly salary in 2018 was close to $2m.Two Democratic attorneys general in New York and DC have reportedly been investigating whether the NRA abused its non-profit tax-exempt status in different ways such as improperly transferring funds from an NRA Foundation to the NRA.Further, the AGs are said to be examining the allegations of self-dealing by NRA leaders, including financial transactions involving LaPierre, the NRA and the former ad firm.If the AGs bring charges, the NRA could lose its coveted non-profit status in New York, where it has long been chartered.The NRA's top outside lawyer has said it is complying with the investigations but has attacked the NY AG's "zeal" and "the investigation's partisan purposes".During the pandemic, the NRA and pro-gun allies have waged successful legal battles in a number of states to make gun shops and shooting ranges "essential" businesses and circumvent stay-at-home measures.But in mid-June, second-amendment advocates and the NRA suffered a stinging legal setback when the supreme court declined 10 petitions to review lower court rulings involving gun laws in several states, including Illinois and Massachusetts, which have banned assault weapons.The NRA attacked the high court's "inaction" in a statement, blasting it for allowing "so-called gun safety politicians to trample on the freedom and security of law-abiding citizens".Due to the pandemic, the NRA earlier this year canceled its annual meeting in Nashville, which Trump has faithfully attended since taking office to solidify his NRA ties. It is now slated to be held on 5 September in Springfield, Missouri.At last year's meeting was concluding, Trump in a tweet urged his NRA allies to "stop the internal infighting" amid the charges of self-dealing by its leaders and to "get back to GREATNESS. FAST." For now, Trump's aspirations for a speedy NRA recovery seem largely unfulfilled.
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| Israel orders evangelical Christian media network God TV to take channel off air Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:47 AM PDT  "The channel does not appeal to the Christian population in Israel, but rather to the Jews," said Israel's broadcasting regulator.
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| The first Boeing 737 Max recertification flight just landed, marking a new milestone for the troubled jet Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:31 PM PDT  Boeing and FAA officials were aboard the 737 Max as it made its first recertification flight, a major milestone for the troubled jet.
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| 'A recipe for disaster,' U.S. health official says of Americans ignoring coronavirus advice Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:27 AM PDT  A spike in U.S. coronavirus infections is fueled in large part by people ignoring public health guidelines to keep their distance and wear masks, the government's top infectious disease official said. A daily surge in confirmed cases has been most pronounced in southern and western states that did not follow health officials' recommendations to wait for a steady decline in infections for two weeks before reopening their economies. "That's a recipe for disaster," Anthony Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN in an interview broadcast on Monday.
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| Trump in ‘fragile’ mood and may drop out of 2020 race if poll numbers don’t improve, GOP insiders tell Fox News Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:27 AM PDT  Donald Trump may drop out of the 2020 presidential race if he believes he has no chance of winning, a Republican Party operative reportedly told Fox News.The claim comes in a report in the president's favourite news outlet that cites a number of GOP insiders who are concerned about Mr Trump's re-election prospects amid abysmal polling numbers.
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| Pence cancels campaign events in Florida and Arizona as coronavirus cases spike Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:08 AM PDT  A campaign spokesperson said the cancellations were "out of an abundance of caution" as cases climb in Florida and Arizona.
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| Louisville: Man in custody after shooting at Breonna Taylor protest Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:13 PM PDT  A shooting at a Louisville protest over Breonna Taylor left one man dead and a suspect in hospital.
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| The A-12 Avenger Shows Why The Navy Needs A Long-Range Strike Aircraft Posted: 28 Jun 2020 11:00 PM PDT  The Navy's carrier air wings would have greatly benefited from an A-12-like capability had the program survived.
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| ‘A travesty’: North Carolina faces calls to continue reopening even as Covid-19 cases surge Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:00 AM PDT  North Carolina remains in the second phase of its reopening plan after hitting a new high in hospitalizations, but industry groups want restrictions easedMajor – the photogenic life-sized bronze bull statue that presides over a square near the center of downtown Durham, North Carolina – hasn't had much company in recent weeks.With the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the state trending upwards, many businesses up and down Main Street remain closed, while others operate in a limited capacity. Some storefronts have been boarded up following recent Black Lives Matter protests, with the plywood covered in graffiti art. "People were crying before the teargas," one read.Outside Pour Taproom on Thursday evening, several groups sat sipping drinks at red metal tables spaced strategically apart. The pour-it-yourself taproom reopened last week, and since has seen a solid, if unspectacular, stream of patrons. Anjelika Vasquez, the Taproom's manager, said many had felt "cooped up in the house"."It's such a weird period," she said. "But people want to drink."Under North Carolina's current set of rules, restaurants, breweries, retail stores and salons are allowed to open at 50% capacity. Gyms and bars are closed, with wiggle room for pubs that serve food. Gatherings are limited to 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors.The Taproom halved its staff and reduced its hours, along with adding sanitizing stations and selling face masks. While the moves have bought the business some time, Vasquez said she's wary about the future."Everybody is getting really impatient and small businesses are suffering," she said. "But I have a feeling we're going to have to close again."On Wednesday, a day after the state hit a new high in Covid-19 hospitalizations, the Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, announced North Carolina would remain in the second phase of its three-phase reopening plan, a decision that was swiftly condemned as anti-business by many in the state's Republican-dominated legislature.Phase two was scheduled to end Friday, but Cooper, who also announced a mandate requiring individuals wear masks in public despite fierce opposition in some quarters, said he was "concerned" about the direction the state is trending."The numbers we see are a stark warning," the governor said. "We're adding this requirement because we don't want to go backward."The announcement was met with furor from industry groups."The governor's decision is effectively signing a death warrant for 1,063 bars across North Carolina while offering zero relief to the small-business owners or their employees," Zack Medford, president of the North Carolina Bar and Tavern Association (NCBATA), said in a release. "Asking private bar owners to lose everything they've worked for while their competitors can thrive is unconscionable.On 4 June, the NCBATA filed a lawsuit against the state on behalf of more than 185 bars, alleging that the Cooper's office violated the businesses' constitutional rights by "irrationally treating [bars] differently from restaurants, hotels, wineries, distilleries, taprooms, brewpubs, breweries, private clubs and eating establishments".Groups representing churches and gyms have also filed similar lawsuits.But for the past several weeks, the state has failed to hit its self-imposed benchmarks for reopening. In addition to a steady increase in hospitalizations – culminating in the record high 915 on Tuesday – North Carolina saw 1,721 new cases Wednesday, its second-highest daily total since the pandemic began."We used to be rock solid in the mid-500s of the total number of hospitalizations. We're now in the 900s and that trend continues to go up," Mandy Cohen, the state's health and human services secretary, said this week.About 9% of tests performed are coming back positive, a number that has also failed to dip. One of the only metrics that has dropped has been tests performed, with the state Department of Health and Human Services citing a renewed shortage of testing reagents.The Republican-controlled state general assembly has generally fought Cooper's reluctance to reopen, passing a handful of bills that would relax restrictions on bars, gyms, bowling alleys and amusement parks. Cooper vetoed at least two of these bills.Many of North Carolina's first hotspots were focused near its population centers, such as Charlotte, Raleigh and Durham. But in recent weeks the spread has moved into less populated areas and heavily impacted Hispanic, Black and indigenous communities, particularly those working in food processing facilities and on farms.The virus's movement from urban to rural areas was predictable, said Lori Carter-Edwards, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, and is underscoring the conflicted relationship between the economy and public health across the state.Without proper safety nets in place – namely in areas with fewer resources – governments and businesses will continually be forced to choose between financial stability and public health, she said.> If we can't make the health decision when the science tells us what it tells us we will be dealing with this much longer> > Lori Carter-Edwards"Both decisions are tough, but if we can't make the health decision when the science tells us what it tells us we will be dealing with this much longer and will be the nation that didn't do what it could have done," Carter-Edwards said. "And that will be a travesty."As it stands, congregate living facilities, daycare centers and schools are the only facilities required by the state to report outbreaks, which it defines as two or more cases. For all other businesses, local health departments and, by extension, the state department of health and human service (DHHS), depend on companies volunteering their own data or tracking down clusters through case interviews."It is in the best interest of public health for those private businesses to self-identify and work with NCDHHS so that we can help protect employees and communities by providing technical assistance on mitigation strategies, educating employees about the virus and measures they can take, and providing testing for those who have been exposed as well as for others in their households," a DHHS spokesperson wrote.North Carolina is set to reassess its reopening strategy when the current order expires on 17 July, and Carter-Edwards said the next three weeks represent a critical window for the state to coordinate a response to its rising numbers."People need to understand the war is not against an individual," she said. "Until we learn how to work together, be bipartisan and treat this as a collective public health [issue], we won't be able to hit our plateau. We'll miss the mark, we'll have more deaths and we'll have more cases."This article was amended on 29 June to remove the inaccurate assertion, introduced in the editing process, that coronavirus deaths in North Carolina were trending upwards.
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| Black Americans experiencing deadly secondary trauma during pandemic and protesting, experts say Posted: 29 Jun 2020 09:55 AM PDT  "...The disproportionate death rate of black and brown people from Covid-19 is no coincidence. It is directly related to the history of racial oppression in our nation."
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| US carriers drill after Southeast Asian nations rebuke China Posted: 29 Jun 2020 12:47 AM PDT  A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple territorial disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons. Two U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike groups are conducting dual operations in the Philippine Sea in a show of the service's ability to rapidly deploy overwhelming force in support of allies locked in disputes with China. "The U.S. Navy regularly conducts integrated strike group operations to support a free and open Indo-Pacific, and promote an international rules-based order wherein each country can reach its potential without sacrificing national sovereignty," the release said.
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| Tanker full of oil decaying amid Yemen's civil war could blow up Posted: 29 Jun 2020 09:07 AM PDT  Five years without maintenance has made the "Safer" and its 1 million barrels of crude an "imminent environmental and humanitarian catastrophe."
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| Canada over worst of coronavirus outbreak, U.S. spike a cause for concern: Trudeau Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Canada is over the worst of the coronavirus outbreak but a spike in cases in the United States and elsewhere shows Canadians must remain vigilant as the economy reopens, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday. "After a very challenging spring things are continuing to move in the right direction," Trudeau told a daily briefing. By contrast, some southern U.S. states are reporting huge jumps in daily cases.
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| Trump was 'near-sadistic' in phone calls with female world leaders, according to CNN report on classified calls Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:24 PM PDT  Trump's conduct over the phone with world leaders posed a "danger to the national security of the United States," according to intel officials.
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| Shipbuilding suppliers need more than market forces to stay afloat Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:41 PM PDT  Without deliberate action, the U.S. shipbuilding industry will become increasingly fragile.
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| Gov. DeSantis cuts $1B from state budget Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:08 PM PDT  Governor Ron DeSantis slashed $1 billion from Florida's budget.
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| George Floyd: At least one ex-officer intends to plead not guilty as judge sets tentative murder trial date Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:06 PM PDT  The four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd could face a jury trial in March, as a judge warned the men to avoid speaking publicly about the case during a hearing on Monday.Three ex-officers appeared in-person at a Hennepin County court in Minnesota, while Derek Chauvin – who was captured on witness video kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck – attended the hearing remotely via video conference from Ramsey County Correctional Centre, where he is being held on a $1.25 million bail.
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| Douglas B-26K Bomber Was the Vietnam War’s "Counter Invader" Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:22 AM PDT  A useful bomber.
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| Saharan dust cloud hits Southern states in U.S. already struggling with coronavirus surge Posted: 28 Jun 2020 10:14 AM PDT  Florida in particular faces a greater risk from the dust as the state experiences record-breaking coronavirus numbers, its ICU capacity under 25 percent.
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| Russia's opposition flounders as Putin changes constitution Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:04 PM PDT  Russia's opposition is denouncing this week's vote on President Vladimir Putin's constitutional reforms as a joke, pointing out that copies of the amended basic law are already on sale in Moscow bookshops. From liberal reformers to Communists, Kremlin critics say the vote -- which started last week and ends on Wednesday -- is a thinly veiled attempt to keep Putin, 67, in power for life. Russia's top opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who last summer rallied thousands against suspected voter fraud in Moscow, has also shown little interest in combating the reforms.
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| Rare syndrome affecting young people weeks after Covid-19 infection, study finds Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:47 PM PDT  Nearly 300 cases of a rare, life-threatening syndrome in children and adolescents associated with the novel coronavirus have been identified in the United States in two studies in The New England Journal of Medicine. The US studies published on Monday follow several reports of the syndrome among Covid-19 patients in Britain France, Italy and Spain. Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), shares symptoms with toxic shock and Kawasaki disease, including fever, rashes, swollen glands and, in severe cases, heart inflammation. A consistent picture is emerging of the syndrome occurring two to four weeks after infection by the coronavirus, Michael Levin, professor of pediatrics and international child health at Imperial College London, said in an accompanying editorial. The syndrome affects 2 in 100,000 young people, defined as under age 21, out of 322 in 100,000 in that group who get Covid-19, he wrote. While the studies identified about 300 cases in the United States, Professor Levin noted that there have been more than 1,000 cases reported worldwide and that a relatively high proportion have occurred among Black, Hispanic or South Asian persons. "There is a concern that children meeting current diagnostic criteria for MIS-C are the 'tip of the iceberg' and a bigger problem may be lurking below the waterline," Professor Levin wrote. The first study, led by Boston Children's Hospital, found 186 cases of MIS-C in 26 US states, with 4 out of 5 cases needing intensive care and one out of five requiring mechanical ventilation. Four patients died. The second study, which observed patients in New York and was conducted by the state's health department, found another 95 confirmed cases, with 4 out of 5 needing admission to intensive care unit and two patients dying. It is not clear why MIS-C develops in some children and adolescents and not in others.
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| CanSino's COVID-19 vaccine candidate approved for military use in China Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:38 PM PDT  China's military has received the greenlight to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino Biologics <6185.HK> after clinical trials proved it was safe and showed some efficacy, the company said on Monday. The Ad5-nCoV is one of China's eight vaccine candidates approved for human trials at home and abroad for the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.
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| Poll: Biden, Trump locked in dead heat in Ohio, where Trump won by 8 in 2016 Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:17 AM PDT  Trump's job approval has remained about the same in Ohio for the past year, with 44% of those polled approving of the job he's done.
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| Greta Thunberg accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of lining up to take a selfie with her just to 'look good' Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:19 AM PDT  Thunberg castigated Angela Merkel and other world leaders at the UN summit as stealing her dreams, but they still craved an Instagram moment with her.
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| Betelgeuse: Nearby 'supernova' star's dimming explained Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:26 AM PDT  Astronomers say big cool patches on the Betelgeuse star likely drove its surprise dimming last year.
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| Discarded cigarette leads to arrest in Idaho cold case murder Posted: 27 Jun 2020 07:59 PM PDT  Murder victim's mother pushed investigators to use controversial genetic genealogy to find her daughter's killer
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| Meet the Boeing X-40A—The Strange Looking Proto-Space Plane Posted: 29 Jun 2020 09:50 AM PDT  Here's what we know about Boeing and NASA's achievement.
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