| As COVID-19 makes a comeback, so will lockdowns Posted: 07 Jul 2020 12:21 PM PDT  With more tests coming back positive now than ever before — and with infections currently rising in 39 states — lockdowns in some form may be the only way to regain control over the coronavirus.
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| Mom kidnaps daughter and flies to Mexico to give Russia US defense secrets, feds say Posted: 07 Jul 2020 10:39 AM PDT  The woman was trying to make contact with Russian government officials "to request resettlement in a country that would not extradite her to the United States," prosecutors said.
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| New York attorney general recommends reducing mayor's power over police Posted: 08 Jul 2020 12:52 PM PDT  New York Attorney General Letitia James recommended that New York City's mayor give up sole control over the city police commissioner's hiring, in a preliminary report released on Wednesday on her investigation into the policing of recent protests. "There should be an entirely new accountability structure for NYPD," James said in her report, which also recommended giving more power to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, a city agency that reviews police misconduct.
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| Former Marine who played wide receiver in college catches a three-year-old boy thrown from burning building Posted: 08 Jul 2020 08:50 AM PDT  A former Marine and wide receiver in college American football caught a three-year-old boy who was thrown from a burning building by his mother.Phillip Blanks was filmed catching Jameson Long on 3 July in Phoenix, Arizona, after he heard the child's mother, Rachel Long, call for help from inside the building.
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| Texas Governor Is ‘Putting Lives at Risk,’ Local Officials Say Posted: 07 Jul 2020 05:56 PM PDT  Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo believes she knows what her county needs to fight back against COVID-19. But because of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, she says she isn't able to follow through. "I'm at the mercy of what powers he positively gives us," Hidalgo told The Daily Beast. "As opposed to being able to use my own tools." As Texas faces a resurgent coronavirus and some officials have emphasized concerns about hospitals in the state becoming potentially overrun or overwhelmed, Hidalgo can find plenty of reasons to worry. Hospitalizations started to increase in late May, she says, and haven't come down since. And recommending that people should stay home just isn't enough. "We need a stay at home order in Harris County," she said of her area that includes Houston. "And we need to be able to do that until the curve comes down on the other side." Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, is resisting calls to give local authorities more control to fight the coronavirus themselves after COVID-19 cases spiked in the state recently. Texas reported more than 10,000 new cases Tuesday, marking a new one day record for the state according to state health department data. Both Hidalgo and Steve Adler, the Democratic mayor of Austin, Texas made their case on national political shows Sunday that they wanted more local control. But at the moment, they're limited in what they can do locally and say they would need the governor's help to make aggressive moves, like a stay at home order. In interviews with The Daily Beast this week, the leaders of both areas feared for what harm could come to their communities without being given the ability to have more local control by the state's Republican governor. "He's putting at risk the ability for economies to stay open and he's putting lives at risk," said Adler. "I feel like we're responding with one hand tied behind our back," said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, also a Democrat. "We know what works. We ought to do that, and that's what the community deserves. I think anything short of a stay home order is a gamble, and we don't have time for that." Texas has become a major hotspot for the coronavirus in recent weeks, with the governor himself halting the state's reopening push over the mounting cases. Total current hospitalizations have risen sharply in the state, according to The Texas Tribune, with new cases also spiking according to the news site. But in an interview Monday night with local television station KFDM News at 6, Abbott responded to the push by instead chiding local officials, saying that the county judges or mayors that are looking to take more action have "absolutely refused to enforce the current executive orders that are already in place. What they need to show is action, not absenteeism." "They need to show up, enforce the law as it is, before they are given any further authority," Abbott said in the interview. "They ask for more and more, but they do absolutely nothing." Texas Gov. Moves to Stop COVID-19 but It's Already Out of ControlAbbott's approach was quickly mocked by Beto O'Rourke, a former presidential candidate and Texas congressman, on Twitter. He tweeted late Monday night: "Abbott opens Texas too soon, issues mask order too late, denies local leaders authority to contain the virus — causing uncontrolled covid spread, many hospitalized & soon dead because of his negligence — and then blames local officials? Pathetic. Resign." Locally, the mayor of Austin said Abbott was wrong to not give him and other cities local control and is still pushing to have that ability. "It's the best way for the state to be able to ultimately tamp down this virus and to figure out what is the right balance in each community between keeping the economy open in a sustainable way and saving lives," Adler said. "...The governor's suggestion that he's not going to do it for those reasons because he thinks that cities and counties are not enforcing the existing rules is just not right." And while Adler said Tuesday he would not automatically make a stay at home order if he was given the power to do so today, he still wants to the right be able to use that tool. Elsewhere in the state, Harris County, which includes Houston, is now at a severe COVID-19 threat level according to the county's coronavirus website. And on Sunday, the mayor of Houston appeared on Face the Nation warning that "if we don't get our hands around this virus quickly in about two weeks our hospital system could be in serious, serious trouble."Abbott's resistance comes as the public health situation in Texas has taken a terrifying turn in recent weeks. Late last month, Abbott paused the state's reopening push, citing rises in hospitalizations from COVID-19 and new cases. Soon after, he rolled back even further by imposing an executive order for bars to close down. And before the fourth of July weekend, the governor signed an executive order that put in place a statewide mask requirement for public locations that applies to "counties with 20 or more positive COVID-19 cases," according to a statement from the governor's office. Battles between local officials wanting to be more aggressive and statewide officials emphasizing a more lax approach have become common during the pandemic. In late March, the governor of Mississippi quickly drew the ire of local officials over a confusing executive order that they said hampered their local power. A similar complaint later came from the Democratic mayor of Savannah, Georgia who said in May that the state's Republican governor had superseded his ability at the local level, creating a situation that meant his city essentially "could do absolutely nothing." That same month, as states moved into reopening, the attorney general of Texas sent letters to the mayors of Austin, San Antonio and a trio of counties chiding them over specific measures and the raising the potential of a legal battle. The issues targeted included local mask requirements, which went farther than what the state would allow, and shelter-in-place orders. In Dallas County, another area of the state hit hard by the virus, Judge Clay Jenkins is not calling for a local stay at home order this week. But in a letter to Abbott Sunday, he urged for the governor to close locations like gyms and inside restaurant dining after warning the GOP leader that "multiple hospital systems are reporting the largest volumes of COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic." After calling for Abbott to implement a variety of requirements across the state, or at least regionally, Jenkins implored the governor to roll back an earlier order "restricting local control" so that his county could make the moves to try and "slow the spread of the rampant and devastating COVID-19 virus." "Governor Abbott has stripped local officials of their authority that's worked well in past emergencies and made Texas a leader until he took over in this emergency," Jenkins, a Democrat, told The Daily Beast. "So it hasn't worked out well at all." 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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| 'More than one million' died of snake bites in India Posted: 08 Jul 2020 02:26 AM PDT  There are at least 15 species of snakes in India responsible for human deaths.
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| Letters to the Editor: Wear a mask so you can be healthy enough to vote Trump out of office on Nov. 3 Posted: 08 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Trump is angry and terrified. He will do anything to win re-election, so we must watch him closely until Nov. 3.
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| US seizes 81 vehicles in Venezuela smuggling ring Posted: 08 Jul 2020 08:29 AM PDT  Federal investigators said Wednesday they have seized 81 vehicles worth an estimated $3.2 million that were bound for Venezuela as part of a smuggling ring operated for wealthy and politically connected people. "This is all part of an ongoing effort to combat foreign public corruption and in particular for public corruption in Venezuela and the laundering and the fleecing of the Venezuelan people's wealth and the stealing of the Venezuelan wealth from the national treasury for the gain of a few politically exploited, exposed people, kleptocrats and their associates," Salisbury said.
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| Three Mars missions poised to launch to the Red Planet in July Posted: 07 Jul 2020 08:23 AM PDT  The busy schedule begins July 14 with the United Arab Emirates' first-ever interplanetary effort.
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| California officer under investigation for allegedly sharing 'vulgar image' of George Floyd; NAACP San Diego calls for his firing Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:03 PM PDT  A San Diego officer is under investigation for allegedly sharing an "altered photograph" of a "naked black male porn star" kneeling on George Floyd.
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| House defense spending bill would give the MQ-9 Reaper drone a second life Posted: 08 Jul 2020 09:26 AM PDT  Appropriators are also backing the purchase of a bunch of other aircraft across the services.
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| Mexico finds remains of another missing student, attacks 'false' history of events Posted: 07 Jul 2020 12:28 PM PDT  Investigators have found a bone fragment belonging to one of 43 students who disappeared in Mexico in September 2014, prosecutors said on Tuesday, only the second set of remains to be definitively identified in a case that roiled the country. The abduction and apparent massacre of 43 student teachers from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College became a symbol of Mexico's chronic failure to tackle gang violence and corruption. When President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office 19 months ago, he pledged to shed light on the crime after the last government's conclusions about the case were widely criticized.
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| Navy SEAL who oversaw bin Laden raid says America's biggest national security issue is the K-12 education system Posted: 08 Jul 2020 02:41 PM PDT  The US needs an education system that informs students about the world around them, retired Navy Adm. William McRaven said.
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| 15 Platform Beds to Elevate Your Bedroom Style Posted: 08 Jul 2020 11:40 AM PDT |
| Fox News Host Grills Betsy DeVos on ‘Reckless’ Plan to Reopen Schools Posted: 08 Jul 2020 02:30 PM PDT  President Donald Trump threatened to "cut off funding" to schools that don't reopen amidst the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday. And his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is right there with him. On Fox News Wednesday afternoon, host Neil Cavuto repeatedly pressed DeVos on the administration's official "schools must open" policy. But she didn't budge, dismissing the risks to not only school children but especially to teachers and their families. "There's nothing in the data that suggests that it would not be appropriate to have kids in school," DeVos claimed. "And while there may be spikes in certain areas and certain communities, those are exceptions to the rule. The rule should be that kids need to be back in school. It's important for their health across the board."DeVos told Cavuto that the administration was "strongly urging" governors to reopen schools in the fall, the host explained to her that "you're doing more than that." "The president is threatening aid to those that don't. What do you think of that?" Cavuto asked. When DeVos said that schools that don't reopen are breaking a "promise" to families in their communities, the host interrupted her to say, "But there are extenuating circumstances, right?" Smiling, he added, "There was this little thing called the coronavirus." An increasingly flustered DeVos kept pushing for schools to reopen regardless, ignoring the health implications. In the communities that have seen spiking cases, Cavuto asked her, "Would it be reckless of a governor or even a mayor in those locales to go ahead and reopen schools as if none of that were going on?"Instead of answering his question, DeVos focused on states like Florida and Texas that have said they will go along with the Trump administration's push to reopen. "The fact is that kids have to get back to schools and schools have got to reopen," she said. "We can't sit around while everything else is opening back up again and have a huge segment of the population—our kids, our future—biding their time and not going back and learning." DeVos would not ultimately say whether she agreed with Trump's threats to withhold funding for states that deem reopening schools fundamentally unsafe. Kellyanne Conway Loses It Over Mary Trump Book on Fox NewsRead 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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| The Latest: Cory Booker wins N.J. Democratic Senate primary Posted: 07 Jul 2020 05:36 PM PDT  Cory Booker has won New Jersey's Democratic Senate primary. The incumbent Booker had faced Lawrence Hamm, who was running on Bernie Sanders' "Not Me. Us." Booker arrived in the Senate in 2013 after serving as mayor of Newark.
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| NASA hits Boeing with 80 recommendations before next space test Posted: 07 Jul 2020 05:01 PM PDT  NASA has drawn up a list of 80 recommendations that US aerospace giant Boeing will have to address before attempting to refly its Starliner space capsule, following the failure of an uncrewed test last year. The recommendations primarily concern the on-board software, which was the main problem with the flight test last December. The capsule could not be placed in the correct orbit, due to a clock error, and a had to return to Earth after two days instead of docking with the International Space Station as planned.
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| Indiana officials probe alleged lynching of black activist Posted: 07 Jul 2020 03:03 PM PDT  Vauhxx Booker says he was attacked by men with a Confederate flag who threatened to 'get a noose'.
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| Michigan drivers met with startling billboard message: 'Driving while Black? Racial profiling just ahead' Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:09 AM PDT  "Driving while Black? Racial profiling just ahead. Welcome to Livonia," the billboard reads. The town's mayor called the sign "counterproductive."
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| ‘Let me borrow your bike’: Atlanta police officer takes passing man’s bicycle to chase fleeing murder suspect Posted: 07 Jul 2020 06:27 AM PDT  Police in Atlanta were able to apprehend a murder suspect thanks to a passerby's bicycle.The Atlanta Police Department said in a statement that the suspect had been seen around the Old Fourth Ward area last Tuesday when one cop commandeered a bicycle to chase the man down.
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| Coronavirus herd immunity may be 'unachievable' after study suggests antibodies disappear after weeks in some people Posted: 07 Jul 2020 05:18 AM PDT  A study of more than 61,000 people in Spain found that just 5% had developed antibodies that could provide COVID-19 immunity.
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| Trump admin plans to block asylum seekers from U.S. by citing risk of COVID-19 Posted: 08 Jul 2020 03:35 PM PDT  Citing "potential international threats" from pandemics, the Trump admin announced plans to make public health risk a reason to deny asylum to migrants.
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| Destroy the ‘Public’ Education System Posted: 07 Jul 2020 03:30 AM PDT  'Public" schools have been a catastrophe for the United States. This certainly isn't an original assertion, but as we watch thousands of authoritarian brats tearing down the legacies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, it's more apparent than ever.State-run schools have undercut two fundamental conditions of a healthy tolerant society. First, they've created millions of civic illiterates who are disconnected from long-held communal values and national identity. Second, they've exacerbated the very inequalities that trigger the tearing apart of fissures.If you're interested in ferreting out "systemic racism," go to a big-city public-school system. No institution has fought harder to preserve segregated communities than the average teachers' union. And I don't mean only in the schools.Prosperous Americans already enjoy school choice -- and not merely because they can afford private schools. Anyone who has ever tried to buy a suburban home in a major metro area can tell you how acutely school districts influence home prices. Many middle-class and working-class families are priced out of areas with good schools because of inflated home values and high property taxes. And families who might otherwise choose to live in more diverse areas are kept out because of failing schools.This entire dynamic is driven by the antiquated notion that the best way to educate kids is to throw them into the nearest government building. It's the teachers' unions that safeguard these fiefdoms through racketeering schemes: First they funnel taxpayer dollars to the political campaigns of allies who, when elected, return the favor by protecting union monopolies and supporting higher taxes that fund unions and ultimately political campaigns. So goes the cycle, decade after decade, one failed student after the next.Even in cities where limited choice exists, most poor parents, typically black or Hispanic, are compelled to send their kids to inferior schools, even if there are better-suited schools within walking distance. More than a decade ago, I sat in a Denver auditorium with a single Hispanic mom who was, quite literally, praying that her kid's number would be picked in a charter-school lottery. The mother wept as her number was passed over, not because she was a partisan reactionary -- she didn't care about politics -- but because she knew her son would now be forced to attend a subpar and unsafe high school rather than one specifically designed to help first-generation kids assimilate.It was a heartbreaking scene. And it's only gotten worse. Colorado has since become a blue state, and Democrats have killed or obstructed numerous school-choice initiatives once supported by moderates in their party. In Denver, schools systems have helped solidify segregated communities, and the achievement gap between white and minority students is one of the worst in the country.Nevertheless, Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden says he'll create not a child-oriented Department of Education but a "teacher-oriented Department of Education." By teachers, Biden means unions. Teachers unions spent $30 million on federal elections alone in 2016 -- virtually all of it on Democrats. It's about more than the money they give, however. Unions organize, campaign, and march for liberal causes. As a Washington Post piece ("Teachers' unions may not raise pay — but they do bolster the Democratic Party") aptly put it not long ago:> But teachers' unions do accomplish something politically notable: They are a vital part of liberal coalitions and the Democratic Party. Teachers' union organization and mobilization, like that of other government workers' unions, have long compensated for the declining membership in traditional organized labor. What's more, they've advanced the causes of women's and LGBTQ rights — rights that are important to many or most of their members. They've done that by delivering money, mobilization and organization to both the Democratic Party and to feminist groups.It's likely that left-wing ideologues run your school district. They decide what your children learn. They are the ones who decide that your kid can protest the Second Amendment of the Constitution, but never, not in a million years, march for any cause the Founders might have championed.Anecdotally speaking, I can confirm that the teaching of American history in at least one D.C. suburb -- perhaps a better way to put it would be the un-teaching of American history -- is detestable. Most events are couched in relativism; or, worse, the textbooks accentuate every sin and downplay every accomplishment. It would be one thing if this kind of ideological shading were relegated to history class, but it has infected plenty of other things.If you have no interest in funding campaigns for "women's and LGBTQ rights" (euphemisms for pro-abortion and anti-religious-liberty causes), well, that's too bad. If you can't homeschool your kid or send her to a pricey private school, you lose.The embedded left-wing nature of big school districts is so normalized that parents rarely say a word. Mom and Dad can buy virtually anything from anywhere in the world, but they can't use their tax dollars to buy Timmy an education that aligns with their values.It was one thing when these schools were producing mere Democrats, and it's quite another now that they're churning out hordes of chillingly ignorant voters.A recent study found that 60 percent of Americans couldn't pass a U.S. Citizenship Test. It comes as no surprise that those 65 or older scored the best, with 74 percent correctly answering at least six out of ten questions. Of those 45 and younger, only 19 percent passed the exam -- and the younger the test-takers, the less likely they were to pass. Sixty percent of those tested didn't know which countries their grandparents fought during World War II. And only 24 percent knew why Americans colonists had fought the British.Now, I'm under no illusion that higher education is the sole driver of common sense and patriotism -- intellectuals are susceptible to some the dumbest ideas ever conceived-– but if state-run schools can't even teach the Founding, how are we going to move forward as a nation?Some pundits point out that elite private schools have even worse problems with progressivism than the average public schools. That's probably true -- and also largely irrelevant. But a voucher system creates opportunities for all kinds of students, not just wealthy ones. It stands to reason, when one considers virtually every other marketplace in existence, that competition in education would generate a diverse array of schools offering an array of teaching methods and cultures to meet the needs of consumers. It would also pressure traditional public schools to do a better job retaining students.There is no panacea. School choice won't instantaneously fix our problems. Yet without closing the gap in educational achievement, it seems unlikely we're going to fix inequality. Without fixing the corrosion of civic education, it's unlikely that American liberalism is going to survive. We can't fix either problem without smashing "public education" as it exists. It might already be too late.
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| Trump Aide Peter Navarro’s Bonkers CNN Interview: ‘Give Peace a Chance, Give Hydroxy a Chance’ Posted: 07 Jul 2020 08:26 AM PDT  White House trade adviser Peter Navarro appeared on CNN on Tuesday morning for yet another off-the-rails interview, this time devoting much of his energy to promoting anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine following a disputed new study finding some efficacy in treating the coronavirus.Last week, in the wake of the Food and Drug Administration revoking the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine due to serious safety issues and lack of benefit for COVID-19 patients, a Michigan study found the Trump-touted drug helped patients weather the virus. The findings, however, were quickly disputed by other experts, who noted that the study excluded a large number of patients who hadn't yet been discharged from the hospital.Appearing on CNN's New Day, Navarro quickly brushed off a series of questions from anchor John Berman about the rapid surge of new coronavirus cases in several states, immediately hyping hydroxychloroquine as a game-changer that can greatly reduce mortality rates.Navarro would go on to claim that the reason the United States is experiencing rising cases is because of high asymptomatic spread, ignoring the rising hospitalizations and the fact that other developed countries are experiencing rapid decreases in confirmed cases. At the same time, the Trump aide kept referring to the disease as the "China virus" while pivoting to his favorite malaria drug."Peter, I promise to get to hydroxychloroquine," Berman noted at one point, attempting to question Navarro about mask-wearing."Look, you guys beat that one to death and I won't get involved in that," Navarro griped over a question about the president publicly wearing a mask, accusing CNN of making a "meme" out of it.Navarro, in between attempts to inject hydroxychloroquine into the conversation, also advised against additional lockdowns to stem the spread of the virus, warning that more stay-at-home orders will cause people to "die from alcoholism and depression."Berman eventually got to the study of the controversial drug, prompting Navarro to explicitly call for the FDA to reverse its stance on hydroxychloroquine's emergency use as a COVID-19 treatment. The CNN anchor, meanwhile, pointed out that this study was double-blinded and randomized, the gold standard in clinical trials."Give peace a chance, give hydroxy a chance," Navarro shot back.The lengthy conversation would careen to a wild ending when Berman attempted to confront Navarro on the president's tweet attacking NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, who is Black, and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's refusal to address Trump's position on Confederate flags.Claiming it wasn't his "lane" as he's "not a surrogate," Navarro went on to say that he doesn't "see race" because he is from California. He then shared a story from his youth that shaped his current racial views."My awakening on the race issue was when I was eight years old in a Woolworth's store in West Palm Beach, Florida, when I walked over and I took a drink from the colored water fountain because I wanted to see colored water," he said. "And this woman came up to me and just gently said, 'You can't drink from that.' I go, 'Why?' She says, 'That's for colored people.' I'm 8 years old and that didn't make sense to me. I'm a Californian, we don't see race out there."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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| Russia is killing US soldiers. Trump's response is a shameful dereliction of duty Posted: 07 Jul 2020 02:25 AM PDT  He has probably known for months, yet he continues to praise Putin. The American president is not looking out for the American peopleDonald Trump's response to Russia's attempts to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan is a dereliction of duty, and yet another sad reminder that the actions of the US president cost American lives.Numerous reports detail how the Trump administration – and the president himself – were aware as early as 2019 that Russia had been offering bounties to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan to kill US soldiers. The United States reportedly has evidence of money transfers from a bank account controlled by Russian military intelligence to a Taliban-linked account and has identified a possible middleman who helped distribute the cash to the Taliban. These bounties have been linked to the deaths of American soldiers.Despite the fact that this information was known to the Trump administration for at least months, there is no indication that the president has done anything to punish Russia. The White House has not even attempted to convince the public otherwise. To the contrary, Trump has continued his obsequious behavior towards Vladimir Putin. Since the intelligence on bounties was reportedly provided to Trump in February 2020, Trump has spoken with Putin numerous times, praised Putin publicly, invited Russia to rejoin the G7 group of democracies, and announced the withdrawal of thousands of troops from Germany without consulting US allies – a giant gift to the Russian president.In its attempts to deflect from the story, the White House has trotted out a dizzying mix of contradictory excuses – including arguing that the information was not briefed to Trump because it was uncorroborated, yet simultaneously serious enough to justify warning US allies. Trump has claimed the whole thing is a hoax. The national security adviser tried to blame one of Trump's intelligence briefers for not highlighting it for Trump.It is impossible to believe that Trump was somehow unaware. Every other senior official in the government would have been made aware of the information; it was widely distributed within the intelligence community by May; and it would have been included in each of the briefings for Trump before his calls with Putin in the last few months. Michael Hayden, the former head of the CIA and NSA, made clear that the intelligence agencies regularly brief the president on information that is not 100% verified – that's how intelligence works. And the former national security adviser Susan Rice explained how she would have dealt with information: "Had I, as national security adviser, received even 'raw' reporting that Russia was paying to kill US service members, I would have walked straight into the Oval Office to brief the president."> In its attempts to deflect from the story, the White House has trotted out a dizzying mix of contradictory excusesWhich leads to the disturbing reality: Trump knew that Russia was paying people to kill American soldiers and he not only did nothing to stop it, but he continued to praise and do favors for Putin. Since the moment Trump asked Putin to hack personal information from Trump's political opponents in 2016, everyone has wondered why Trump acts as though he is in debt to Putin. Whatever the reason for Trump's consistent attempts to ingratiate himself with Putin and seek his help at the expense of the American people – from the 2016 campaign to taking Putin's word over that of the US intelligence community – the result is clear: Putin believes he can act with impunity against the US. In addition to doing so by targeting US soldiers, he is probably attempting to interfere in our election this year, yet again, to help Trump.This story is, of course, much bigger than the Trump-Putin relationship. It is about the danger that lies at the core of the Trump administration. The American president, it has become disturbingly clear, is not looking out for the American people. Trump looks out only for himself – whether it's asking Russia, China, or Ukraine to help him advance his personal political agenda or continuing to profit off his personal business while in office.Beyond Afghanistan, one need only look at Trump's disastrous response to the pandemic, which has already killed more than 128,000 Americans and is currently raging through the country without the slightest hint that Trump will take the actions necessary to save lives.Whether it's US soldiers in Afghanistan or the thousands of Americans that have died in the pandemic, it seems every day like the president can't be troubled to do what's necessary to protect the American people.
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| Former India navy officer refuses to appeal spying death sentence Posted: 08 Jul 2020 10:29 AM PDT  A former Indian naval officer on death row in Pakistan for alleged spying has refused to lodge an appeal against his conviction and will try instead for a military pardon, an official said Wednesday. Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in 2016 in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Balochistan -- a region where Islamabad has long accused New Delhi of backing separatist rebels.
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| McEnany: The president will stand on the side of our children Posted: 08 Jul 2020 02:52 PM PDT  White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany responds to criticism of Trump's push to reopen schools.
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| Militants kill local politician from Modi's party in Indian Kashmir Posted: 08 Jul 2020 11:17 AM PDT |
| Ukraine detains suspected Russian agent accused of plotting a chemical spill Posted: 08 Jul 2020 04:54 AM PDT  Ukraine's security service has detained a suspected Russian agent who was allegedly planning to blow up an ammonia tank in the country's war-torn east. Ukraine's SBU secret agency claims the unidentified Ukrainian national is an agent of Russia's FSB intelligence agency, tasked with targeting key infrastructure of the Luhansk region. The FSB did not have immediate comment. The man was reportedly caught red-handed in the city of Severodonetsk, a few dozen miles away from the separatist-controlled area, as he was retrieving two grenade launchers from a weapons cache for the attack that was supposed to blow up a 3.5 tonne ammonia tank at a local chemical plant. Ammonia is a highly toxic substance, and a spill would have endangered lives and caused environmental damage. Footage released by the SBU on Wednesday showed the man lying on his stomach following the arrest, with SBU agents finding two grenade launchers in a gym bag nearby. The man, who was previously wanted by Ukrainian police for fighting alongside Russia-backed separatists is now in custody facing charges of sabotage, the SBU said. The conflict between pro-Russian separatists and government troops in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 13,000 lives and displaced a million people since it erupted in 2014. Major hostilities died down after a 2015 truce but fighting is still simmering, and large swathes of Ukraine's industrial east remain under separatist control. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, has been pushing for a peaceful solution to the deadly conflict since he assumed office last year. Hopes for a peace settlement emerged when Mr Zelenskiy sat down for talks with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, last year and saw through two major prison swaps that secured the release of more than 200 Ukrainian prisoners from separatist custody. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said on Wednesday that it was too early to talk about a new round of peace talks for eastern Ukraine.
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| $400,000: The Cost to Unclog a Toilet on a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Posted: 07 Jul 2020 06:13 AM PDT  " Unfortunately, this isn't the first time the toilet tissue on the ship has been in the media. In 2011 there were reports that at least twice in the carriers' first year in service all 423 toilets were out of service simultaneously"
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| Librarians and other public employees in Phoenix are being asked to help with coronavirus testing because the city doesn't have a health department Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:48 PM PDT  "I also would really ask that every level of government help the city of Phoenix with testing," Mayor Kate Gallego told NPR.
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| Should schools reopen? Pediatricians, politicians say yes — but teachers disagree Posted: 08 Jul 2020 11:22 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said "everybody wants it." Teachers unions are calling it "brazen" decision-making.
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| Russia tells US to 'mind own business' over media freedom Posted: 08 Jul 2020 04:45 AM PDT  Moscow has told the US embassy to "mind your own business" after Washington's diplomatic mission raised concern about curbs on media freedom in Russia. Rebecca Ross, the spokeswoman for the US embassy, on Tuesday expressed concern about a clampdown on journalists in Russia. "Watching arrest after arrest of Russian journalists – it's starting to look like a concerted campaign against #MediaFreedom," she tweeted.
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| GOP Senators Preparing $1.3 Trillion Coronavirus Aid Package to Counter House Dems’ Proposal Posted: 08 Jul 2020 03:38 PM PDT  Republican senators are piecing together an additional coronavirus aid package to counter House Democrats' phase-4 aid proposal.The GOP bill in its current form will provide an additional $1.3 trillion in economic aid to U.S. taxpayers and businesses, CNN reported on Wednesday evening. House Democrats have already proposed their own $3 trillion aid package, however Senate Republicans have pushed back on the high price tag."It won't be $3 trillion. That bill is not going anywhere," Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said on Wednesday. The GOP proposal will likely include aid to schools, hospitals, and businesses, along with liability protections for companies.The Republican caucus has urged caution when passing additional aid packages, preferring to study the effects of previous legislation to make sure the aid is effective in keeping the U.S. economy afloat. McConnell said that talks with Democrats on a new round of aid would be more difficult "because of the proximity to the election.""It is unclear to me right now how we will resolve several contentious issues," Senator Chris Coons (D., Conn.) told CNN, echoing McConnell. "It's going to be a rough road. There are a lot of competing interests. A lot."House Democrats may also piece together an infrastructure spending bill to offset some of the economic effects of the pandemic. The idea for an infrastructure bill has received support from Republicans including President Trump, as well as Senators Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), Roy Blunt (R., Mo.), and Roger Wicker (R., Miss.).
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| U.S. may see 'some spots' of economic damage as states see coronavirus surge, Kudlow says Posted: 08 Jul 2020 06:45 AM PDT  The economy would likely suffer some impacts as certain U.S. states reimpose coronavirus-related restrictions, but imposing another nationwide shutdown would be "a big mistake," White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Wednesday. "I don't see it yet," Kudlow told reporters at the White House, referring to any economic fallout as some of the country's most populous states such as Florida, Texas and California saw cases surge and reimposed various measures aimed at mitigating the outbreak. Kudlow earlier told CNBC that another nationwide shutdown would harm businesses and Americans' wellbeing.
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| Rep. Ilhan Omar calls to dismantle America's 'system of oppression' Posted: 08 Jul 2020 03:46 AM PDT  Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar says we can't stop at criminal justice and police reform; Venezuelan refugee Daniel Di Martino reacts on 'Fox & Friends.'
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| Two accused of painting over Black Lives Matter mural charged with hate crime Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:28 PM PDT  The Black Lives Matter mural on a street in Martinez had been approved by the city, officials said.
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| New York mayor blames 'dislocation' caused by coronavirus for wave of shootings that left 10 dead and 54 injured over weekend Posted: 07 Jul 2020 03:52 PM PDT  At least 10 people were killed among 64 shootings reported in New York City over the Fourth of July weekend, which saw a violent spree in several major cities still reeling from coronavirus infections and widespread protests against police violence.For the first time since 2016, the city surpassed 400 shootings by mid-year. The New York Police Department reported that the city saw 528 shootings by the end of June, one of the most violent halves of the year in more than 20 years.
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| Gun violence kills 160 as holiday weekend exposes tale of 'two Americas' Posted: 07 Jul 2020 02:00 AM PDT  With more than 500 wounded across the US, local leaders see racism and under-investment at the root of the crisisA six-year-old in Philadelphia, a seven-year-old in Chicago, an eight-year-old in Atlanta, a 15-year-old in New York, all shot. Community cries of "enough is enough".Neighborhoods in some of the largest US cities erupted in gun violence over the Fourth of July weekend, killing an estimated 160 people and leaving more than 500 wounded from Friday night to Sunday.Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, declared a state of emergency on Monday after 31 people were shot and five killed over the weekend in Atlanta. He authorized 1,000 national guard troops to "protect state property and patrol our streets".But Chicago saw the worst violence in one of the bloodiest holiday weekends in recent memory, ending with 17 people fatally shot including a seven-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy and 63 more wounded, an increase of five shootings on the high figures that had marred the holiday weekend the previous year.Despite an effort that included an additional 1,200 officers on the streets and pleas from the city's mayor, Lori Lightfoot, for residents not to reverse limited progress that had been made against the epidemic of gun violence, Lightfoot lamented the children whose "hopes and dreams were ended by the barrel of a gun".The city's south and west sides have seen worse weekends this year, however, and a one-year-old and a three-year-old were killed during recent shootings. The rising violence prompted Donald Trump to write to Lightfoot and the Illinois governor, JB Priztker, both Democrats, accusing them of receiving more than $1bn in special federal funding for anti-crime measures and coronavirus relief that was "not being turned into results"."Your lack of leadership … continues to fail the people you have sworn to protect," the letter said.Lightfoot dismissed Trump's letter as "all talk, little action".The shooting death of an eight-year-old girl, Secoriea Turner, in Atlanta, prompted the mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, to call for justice while noting the shadow such street violence casts over the huge and largely peaceful Black Lives Matter protests against racism and police brutality."Enough is enough," Bottoms said. "If you want people to take us seriously and you don't want us to lose this movement, we can't lose each other."The shooting happened near the Wendy's restaurant where a Black man, Rayshard Brooks, was killed by a white police officer in June."She was only eight years old," Charmaine Turner said of her daughter Secoriea. "Right now, she would have been on TikTok, dancing on her phone."Atlanta police said two other people were killed and more than 20 injured in gunfire during the holiday weekend.In New York, a series of shootings on Saturday and Sunday claimed at least nine lives and wounded 41 others in a rise in incidents in some neighborhoods. A 15-year-old boy was wounded in the Bronx.And in Philadelphia, a six-year-old boy died of a gunshot wound amid five fatal shootings in about five hours on Sunday afternoon, police said.The Trace, a non-profit news website covering gun violence in the US, which tallied the weekend toll of shootings in the US, reported that preliminary research from the University of California, Davis, has found a potential link between the rise in violence and a surge in gun-buying during the coronavirus pandemic, of more than 2.1 million more guns than usual between March and May.> Chicago is, woefully, a tale of two cities and across the country it's a tale of two Americas> > Rev Gregory LivingstonThe Rev Gregory Livingston, a pastor and civil rights leader who moved to New York last summer after many years running an anti-violence community organization in his native Chicago, spoke of Chicago "going through absolute madness".But he warned that nationwide systemic racism that is not being addressed, and the "violent history" of America that has not been reckoned with were dividing people and causing some communities to break down."Chicago is, woefully, a tale of two cities, and across the country it's a tale of two Americas. Chicago is a very segregated city, and that legacy is part of what's fueling this horrific violence," Livingston told the Guardian.He condemned "corruption and racism" and said the pandemic and economic fallout had exacerbated inequality. The pandemic has been disproportionately hard on Black Americans already suffering economic and healthcare deprivations.Livingston campaigned strongly to vote out the previous Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel. Lightfoot has been in the position since May 2019, and has just appointed a new police chief.Lightfoot agreed with Livingston's point that a long history of segregation in Chicago and under-investment were "at the root" of the "explosion" of violence."You have to give a sense of hope. You have to reach out to those young men on the corners who are the shooters, but it can't just be on the police and the city government. It's all hands on deck," Lightfoot said.She said of Trump: "We are leading. He needs to take our lead and follow it."Livingston called on Lightfoot to tackle racism and policing problems "head on"."There is an individual responsibility [among those shooting], but there are also conditions that create a climate of violence," he said.He accused the New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, of being "scared" of confronting racism in the New York police department. "There is no courage in city hall," he said.And he warned mayors across the US that Chicago was the "control" for what would happen elsewhere this summer if inequality and the demands of protesters coast to coast since George Floyd, an African American, was killed in Minneapolis by a white police officer did not spur change.The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, declared herself dismayed that she was not asked about the weekend shootings at her briefing on Monday, despite citing "a doubling of shootings in New York City for the third straight week".> Multiple shootings in multiple Democrat-run cities such as New York and Chicago. Tragic loss of life. > > But not one question during the briefing... pic.twitter.com/krdPbmyr1w> > — Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) July 6, 2020Journalists at the briefing responded that she had ended the 22-minute briefing and departed while many were still waiting, hands raised, to ask questions.
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| Harvard, MIT sue to block ICE rule on international students Posted: 08 Jul 2020 06:52 AM PDT  Colleges and universities pushed back Wednesday against the Trump administration's decision to make international students leave the country if they plan on taking classes entirely online this fall, with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filing a lawsuit to try to block it, and others promising to work with students to keep them on campus. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified colleges Monday that international students will be forced to leave the U.S. or transfer to another college if their schools operate entirely online this fall. New visas will not be issued to students at those schools, and others at universities offering a mix of online and in-person classes will be barred from taking all of their classes online.
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| 'Trapped' illegal workers in Saudi look to virus for escape Posted: 08 Jul 2020 03:36 PM PDT  Jobless and broke, Sudanese electrician Hatem is stranded in limbo in Riyadh like countless other illegal workers, but he hopes the fast-spreading coronavirus will offer a chance for escape. While coronavirus drives a huge exodus of expatriates, campaigners say potentially hundreds of thousands of illegal workers remain stranded in Saudi Arabia, complicating efforts to fight the disease. The pandemic has laid bare what activists call systemic injustices roiling the lives of blue-collar foreign workers in Saudi Arabia -- overcrowded housing, exploitative employers and a lack of effective recourse.
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| Cancel culture: What unites young people against Obama and Trump Posted: 08 Jul 2020 04:32 AM PDT  The push to bring down memorials has renewed criticisms of "cancel culture" from current and past presidents.
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| 5 Reasons You Simply Can't Sleep on Israel in a Land War Posted: 07 Jul 2020 02:30 AM PDT  Here are five Israeli army weapons of war that no one in the Middle East would certainly want to tangle with in a fight:
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| Line in the sand crossed as Zimbabwe reaches a deal with evicted white farmers Posted: 07 Jul 2020 10:09 AM PDT  Zimbabwe has agreed to pay nearly £3bn in compensation to white farmers who had their land taken from them nearly two decades ago in a significant new agreement. After ten years of politically charged negotiations, on Monday an agreement was finally struck. The Zimbabwean government agreed to pay about 50 per cent of the value of the capital assets such as buildings, livestock and machinery on their farms, which amounts to some £2.8 billion spread out between 3,200 evicted farmers. The agreement is expected to be signed within weeks, but it is being treated with caution. Zimbabwe is bankrupt and is suffering from high inflation rates and food shortages. The government in Harare is currently unable to get international loans, or import enough fuel for its population. Zimbabwe's white farmers were successful, and their productivity formed the bedrock of the southern Africa nation's economy. However, their success was grounded in racialised system of land ownership. Prior to the independence of Rhodesia in 1980, black Africans could not buy land in areas set aside for white people. Twenty years ago they were violently chased off their farms by government supporters, and several farmers and some of their workers were killed and their homes torched in brutal raids. Over the next five years, nearly all productive white-owned farms were invaded and often destroyed., with much of that old land still unused to this day. Notably, the deal does not include any compensation for the value of the land itself. The Zimbabwean government says that Britain must pay evicted white farmers for the land as it was originally taken from locals without payment, mostly by British settlers. A plan is currently being drawn up for a domestic "Land Bank" which would restore title deeds for the land which was nationalised in 2005. "The deal agreed with the government is positive, but I will remain wary of how it is structured," said Doug Taylor-Freeme, a former long-serving president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU). The news comes after the Zimbabwean government agreed to pay about 500 impoverished white farmers still living in Zimbabwe a small amount of money as an advance on their compensation. One farmer who attended the CFU's briefing, which was closed to the media, said: "We don't believe Zimbabwe will ever have money to pay us. But maybe one day my grandchildren will get some of the money."
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| Tenant faces eviction for Black Lives Matter banner on his Illinois balcony, he says Posted: 08 Jul 2020 06:50 AM PDT  "We just wanted to advocate any way we can."
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