| Top Democrats ask FBI to brief Congress on disinformation threats Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:12 PM PDT  Democratic leaders on Monday made public a letter they sent a week ago to the FBI requesting the agency brief all members of Congress about efforts by foreign governments to spread disinformation ahead of the 2020 election.
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| Hours after the St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters were given felony charges, Missouri's attorney general said he's joining the case to get their charges dismissed Posted: 21 Jul 2020 02:48 AM PDT  Missouri AG Eric Schmitt, a Republican, said in an amicus brief Monday that Mark and Patricia McCloskey had a right to defend their property.
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| Former Obama adviser lays out why Biden's VP would likely be the 'most powerful in history' Posted: 20 Jul 2020 01:30 PM PDT  You're probably well aware of the fact that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, needs to pick a running mate. As always, voters are watching the process closely, but there's reason to believe his choice could mean even more than usual, The Atlantic reports.That's because some people believe Biden's No. 2 will have more power than any vice president in history should the pair defeat President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in November. Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior Obama adviser who worked in the administration when Biden himself served as vice president, explained why to The Atlantic."Joe Biden's vice president will most likely be the most powerful vice president in history because the trend is toward more powerful vice presidents, Joe Biden knows the value of having a vice president with lots of responsibility, and Joe Biden is going to inherit an epic disaster," Pfeiffer said.What Pfeiffer didn't mention, but would seemingly add to his argument, is that Biden views himself as a "transition candidate" who wants to help usher in a new era of Democratic political leaders, likely starting with his vice president. Read more at The Atlantic.More stories from theweek.com The GOP's rising tide of unpopularity Trump officials, top Republicans split over what to put in coronavirus relief bill: 'What in the hell are we doing?' Serena Williams' 2-year-old daughter is now the youngest owner in pro sports
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| Portland Police Union Head Slams City Officials: They ‘Have Condoned the Destruction and Chaos’ Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:25 AM PDT  Portland Police Association president Daryl Turner slammed elected officials at a press conference on Sunday, a day after the union's offices were set on fire amid continuing riots in the city.Since the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers, Portland has seen 50 days of protests and riots. Federal law enforcement officers have deployed to the city over the past several weeks, clashing with protesters.Turner alleged that Oregon officials have allowed the violence to continue unabated."The elected officials have condoned the destruction and chaos," Turner said on Sunday, standing with 20 faith and business leaders from Portland. "They have placed their political agenda ahead [of the] safety and welfare of the community. This must stop."Turner continued, "This is no longer about George Floyd, racial equity, social justice reform or the evolution of policing….This is about violence, rioting and destruction. Our city is under siege by rioters."Portland mayor Ted Wheeler on Friday accused the Trump administration of fanning the violence by ordering federal law enforcement to crack down on the riots and protests."Last week, we were seeing the deescalation of the violence. We were seeing things calm down. But the intervention of federal officers reignited tensions," Wheeler said in an online press conference with Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell. "I think we would have seen the end of this nightly engagement by now."Lovell indicated that federal officers and local police were not coordinating with each other."The federal officers have their objectives, and the Portland police has our objectives. We don't direct federal officers' actions, and they do not direct ours," Lovell said.
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| White House press secretary claims the media has 'tried to scare the American people' about the coronavirus, which has killed over 141,000 Americans and infected 3.8 million more Posted: 21 Jul 2020 10:13 AM PDT  McEnany told reporters "You never heard the other side of the health equation" on "what extended lockdowns do to the American people."
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| Hong Kong protesters gather on anniversary of mob attack Posted: 21 Jul 2020 05:47 AM PDT  Small groups of Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators gathered on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of an attack in a train station by an armed crowd wearing white shirts, and demanded justice for victims of the violence and broader freedoms. The Yuen Long attack, and the police's apparent failure to prevent it, exacerbated tensions during protests last year, plunging the global financial hub into its deepest crisis since Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Scattered individuals around the Yoho mall and Yuen Long train station chanted slogans including "Hong Kong independence, the only way out".
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| As Eastern Europe shrinks, rural Bulgaria is becoming a ghostland Posted: 21 Jul 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Since the fall of the Eastern Bloc, Bulgaria has lost more than one-fifth of its population — from nearly 9 million to about 7 million.
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| Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder Arrested in $60 Million Bribery Scheme Posted: 21 Jul 2020 08:47 AM PDT  Ohio's top state lawmaker conspired to funnel tens of millions of dollars from the state's electric utility to his political allies in order to consolidate power over the state legislature and shepherd through a $1.5 billion bailout for the utility's nuclear power plants, federal prosecutors alleged on Tuesday.The FBI arrested Ohio speaker Larry Householder, a Republican, and four alleged co-conspirators and leveled charges of racketeering and bribery related to the scheme. At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Attorney David DeVillers called it "likely the largest bribery [and] money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio."At the center of the scheme was Householder, who prosecutors say used a nonprofit "dark money" group called Generation Now to funnel money from the utility, First Energy, into state-level political contests. Householder's goals, DeVillers said, were to pass and preserve a contentious bill to bail out two FirstEnergy nuclear plants, and "to build a power base for Larry Householder."After his arrest, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine called on the speaker to "resign immediately.""I am deeply concerned about the allegations of wrongdoing issued today by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Every American has the presumption of innocence until proven guilty," DeWine tweeted Tuesday. "Because of the nature of these charges, it will be impossible for Speaker Householder to effectively lead the Ohio House of Representatives; therefore, I am calling on Speaker Householder to resign immediately. This is a sad day for Ohio."Where Does a Pro-Nuke Group Begin and a GOP Politician End?Four political consultants with ties to Householder were also arrested and charged with complicity in the scheme. Prosecutors said the co-conspirators routed money provided by FirstEnergy to Generation Now through a network of dark money groups and political consulting firms in order "to hide that the money was coming from Generation Now."The money was used to help elect Householder allies to the statehouse, and to promote legislation propping up FirstEnergy assets. According to prosecutors, the money provided by the utility was used to help elect 21 state legislators. All of them subsequently voted to make Householder the statehouse speaker in 2019. All but one voted for the FirstEnergy bailout.The Daily Beast detailed a host of connections between Householder, Generation Now, and political forces in Columbus pushing the FirstEnergy bailout in a series of stories in 2018 and 2019. Householder consistently denied involvement with the dark money group, and insisted he had no financial interest in the bailout. Both claims, prosecutors said, were flatly untrue. Prosecutors did not name FirstEnergy at the press conference on Tuesday, only referring to it as Company A, but left no doubt that it was the company at issue. "Everybody in this room knows who Company A is," DeVillers said.FBI agents and local authorities stormed Householder's Glenford farm on Tuesday morning. Others who were arrested included Neil Clark, a lobbyist and founder of Grant Street Consultants; former Ohio Republican Party chair Matthew Borges; Juan Cespedes, co-founder of The Oxley Group in Columbus; and one of Householder's advisers, Jeffrey Longstreth.The investigation into the Republican lawmaker centers on House Bill 6, a $1 billion bailout plan for two Ohio nuclear power plants—which Householder notably helped push through last year, according to Cleveland.com. The bill was signed by DeWine in June and was immediately met with efforts to overturn the bailout.Those efforts have since failed after receiving fierce resistance from several well-funded groups, including Generation Now. The company is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit—meaning it can engage in political advocacy without disclosing its donors—but The Daily Beast has previously reported on its deep ties to Householder. Generation Now was the primary node of a Householder-linked Columbus political machine, which funneled money to statehouse allies using millions of dollars in untraceable political donations. The group pressed for state assistance for two nuclear power plants run by FirstEnergy. It also ran polling for Householder and his allies during the 2018 election cycle, according to memos quietly posted to an otherwise-blank website affiliated with Generation Now. Some of those memos contained metadata indicating they were created by Longstreth, the longtime Householder adviser who was arrested on Tuesday, and another employee of his consulting firm.Ohio Governor Mandates Masks In COVID 'Red Alert' Counties Generation Now provided more than $1 million during the 2018 cycle to a political group, Growth & Opportunity PAC, that spent the funds in support of a number of Householder allies. The PAC has received another $1.1 million since last year from a similarly named dark money group, the Coalition for Growth and Opportunity. The PAC has once again spent that money on ads backing Householder allies in Ohio.When Growth & Opportunity PAC began running ads on a Cincinnati NBC affiliate this year, the station tried, unsuccessfully, to suss out information on the people running the group. "Asked buyer for additional names," the station wrote in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. "None were provided.""It takes courage for citizens to assist law enforcement in the ways detailed in the affidavit," DeVillers said Tuesday. "We are grateful to those who felt a moral duty to work together with agents in bringing to light this alleged, significant public corruption."Householder is the first Ohio lawmaker in 60 years to win back the speakership after leaving due to term limitations, which he did in 2019 after serving from 2001 to 2004. He is considered one of the three most powerful politicians in Ohio and a politician whose current influence dictates how the state spends more than $140 billion annually. Tuesday's investigation is not the first time Householder has been the subject of an FBI investigation. In 2004, the FBI launched an investigation into allegations that he and his aides took kickbacks from various vendors and traded political favors for campaign contributions. The investigation ended two years later and no charges were filed against the Republican. About 13 years later, in January 2017, Householder mounted a successful campaign to become the first lawmaker to recapture the speakership—a post dictated by term limits—in nearly six decades. 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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| Descendant of Robert E. Lee: Black lives matter, statues of the confederate general should be removed Posted: 21 Jul 2020 02:06 PM PDT  A descendant of Robert E. Lee, Rev. Robert Wright Lee, told a House panel on Tuesday that Black lives matter, and that statues and memorials to the general in the Confederate army should be removed.
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| I took a closer look at the cognitive test Trump claims to have aced Posted: 21 Jul 2020 07:46 AM PDT  The test the president boasted about passing does not measure IQ but is typically used to check for early signs of dementiaLike any smart, down-to-earth person, Donald Trump has been bragging about "acing" a simple cognitive test he took recently. He's been doing it for a while now, but it wasn't until his interview with Fox News's Chris Wallace on Sunday that he was challenged over it.As the president started boasting about his results, Wallace laughed. "I took the test too when I heard that you passed it," the Fox News host told Trump. "It's not – well it's not the hardest test. They have a picture and it says 'what's that' and it's an elephant.'"This, according to Trump, was "misrepresentation". "Yes, the first few questions are easy," he conceded. "But I'll bet you couldn't even answer the last five questions. I'll bet you couldn't, they get very hard, the last five questions." He added: "I guarantee you that Joe Biden could not answer those questions."So what is the test and are the last five questions, as Trump claims, really so difficult?The test is called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and was created by the neurologist Dr Ziad Nasreddine in 1996. Talking to MarketWatch on Monday, Nasreddine stressed that the test "is supposed to be easy for someone who has no cognitive impairment", stressing that "this is not an IQ test or the level of how a person is extremely skilled or not. The test is supposed to help physicians detect early signs of Alzheimer's."There are a few different versions of the test with small variations (such as the words to remember or animals to name), but the questions are generally the same. We can't tell for sure which version Trump took, but as he said he did it recently, I've taken the latest MoCA test from their website.Trump is right about the start of the test being easy. But when it comes to the last five questions, his claim that they're "very hard" is unsettling (although not surprising) in what it reveals about his relationship with reality.But before we dive into that, here's what the test involves: Drawing a clock and a cubeThe first few questions are indeed "easy" – although it goes without saying that anyone experiencing cognitive problems is supposed to find it hard, and the point of the test is to help diagnose their condition.First, you have to draw a line between numbers and their equivalent letters (1 to A, A to 2, 2 to B and so on). Then you have to draw a cube, and a clock at 10 past 11. Call it what you will – millennial-itis, lockdown brain – but this was actually a slight challenge as I can't remember the last time I looked at a clock that wasn't on my phone or laptop. So yes, it took me a second to remember that the minutes are all multiples of five – for 10 past the big hand points to two. But I figured it out in the end, and that's all that matters. The 'elephant' questionIf you're lucky enough to not have any cognitive impairment, this part is also easy. There are three drawings – a lion, rhino and camel. As mentioned, there are a few versions of the test with very minor differences – for example, the test Fox News showed during the interview had an elephant on it (you can see it here), but the latest test has a rhino instead. This has led some of Trump's critics to baselessly claim that he can't tell the difference between the two. Repeat after me – and do some mathsBoth of these sections are very simple, and involve repeating a series of numbers forwards and backwards, and remembering a string of five random words. The final part, which Chris Wallace mentioned, asks you to count back from 100 in multiples of seven (100, 93, 86). Like the clock, this took me slightly longer than I would have liked – but nowhere does it say this is a timed test. I did it in the end, slowly but surely. The difficulties beginThis is where things get a little concerning.If you remember, Trump bet Wallace that he "couldn't even answer the last five questions" of the test. But for a mentally healthy person, the last five questions should be as simple as the rest.The fifth-to-last question on the test asks you to repeat a sentence out loud, before naming as many words as you can starting with F. In the following "abstraction" section, you have to spot the similarity between different objects such as trains and bicycles (modes of transport), or a watch and a ruler (measuring devices).Next, you have to recall the random words that were included in the earlier memory section. This may be the part that's easiest to trip over.And finally, for the orientation part of the test, you have to … say what the date is.For Trump to claim these are hard is worrying because for any cognitively healthy person, they shouldn't be. But before we start any armchair diagnosis, you have to weigh up two probabilities against each other. Is it really likely that he found the last five questions hard? Or is it more likely that he's misrepresenting about how hard they were, in order to look "smarter" than Joe Biden?In the same interview, Trump got his team to pass him a chart that he said showed the US had "one of the lowest mortality rates in the world", when it didn't do anything of the sort. This is shocking, but not surprising – Trump has now made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims since he took office.So it seems more likely that Trump's difficulties at the end of the test tell us nothing that we don't know already. His prolific lying and self-aggrandisement, two things we have empirical evidence for, should be what worries us. For, similar to his "stable genius" claims, you've got to ask yourself: how many smart people brag about their supposed intellect so much, and in such a misguided way?
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| Majority of economists say $600 unemployment boost should be extended or increased for rest of the year Posted: 21 Jul 2020 01:34 PM PDT  Republican lawmakers have cast doubt on extending the $600 per week boost to unemployment insurance during ongoing coronavirus relief bill negotiations, but economists think it should remain at least for the rest of year, a new survey shows.The FiveThirtyEight survey, conducted in partnership with the Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, polled 33 economists on whether the federal benefits should continue at the same rate, increase, decrease, or lapse completely for the rest of year. A plurality think it should stay the same, and a majority support keeping it as is or increasing, while only 7 percent back getting rid of the benefits altogether.> Another IGM survey of economists -- this one, of quantitative macroeconomic economists -- finds that they generally believe best thing for economy would be to continue or *increase* the $600 federal UI top-up https://t.co/yGuukWD51V pic.twitter.com/Ec1hp8Ex00> > — Catherine Rampell (@crampell) July 21, 2020Going forward, though, the most popular idea among the surveyed economists was to tie the unemployment insurance rate to key economic indicators, so that the benefit gradually decreases as the economy improves. Read the full results here and check out more analysis of the study at FiveThirtyEight.More stories from theweek.com The GOP's rising tide of unpopularity Trump officials, top Republicans split over what to put in coronavirus relief bill: 'What in the hell are we doing?' Serena Williams' 2-year-old daughter is now the youngest owner in pro sports
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| China’s Monstrous Abuse of Uighur Women Posted: 21 Jul 2020 08:53 AM PDT  Slavery and genocide are ancient bedfellows. I first became aware of this fact as a child while watching the opening number of DreamWorks's 1998 film, The Prince of Egypt. In the first five minutes of the movie, enslaved Hebrew men construct monuments to the Pharaoh as their wives beg for their infant sons' lives. All, save Moses, are ripped from their mothers' arms and tossed into the Nile.Of course, with 21st-century technology, crocodile-infested rivers are no longer needed to get rid of minority children. We have "medicine" for that.Last week, drone footage, verified by Western intelligence agencies, emerged from Northern China. It showed Uighur Muslims bound and blindfolded, with shaven heads, being loaded onto trains that were likely headed for detention camps. In a BBC interview, British journalist Andrew Marr demanded answers from Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom. Xiaoming accused "so-called Western intelligence agencies" of making "false accusations against China." The population of Xinjiang had doubled in 40 years, he said, which clearly proved that "ethnic cleansing" and "so-called forced abortions" had not occurred. Marr, unconvinced, retorted, "According to your own local government statistics, the population growth in Uighur jurisdictions in that area has fallen by 84 percent between 2015 and 2018. 84 percent."How can that be so? A recent report by the Associated Press, compiling "government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor" gives an idea.Over the past four years, the Chinese government has spent tens of millions of dollars to violently hijack the functioning reproductive systems of minority women. In 2017, according to official directives uncovered by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, government officials backed by armed law-enforcement officers were instructed to "leave no blind spots," "contain illegal births and lower fertility rates," "test all who need to be tested," and "detect and deal with those who violate policies early."The AP report found that "having too many children" is a "major reason people are sent to detention camps," that "parents of three or more [children] are ripped away from their families unless they can pay huge fines," and that "police raid homes, terrifying parents as they search for hidden children." The report also contains shocking witness testimony: * "Tursunay Ziyawudun said she was injected until she stopped having her period, and kicked repeatedly in the lower stomach during interrogations. She now can't have children and often doubles over in pain, bleeding from her womb." * "Gulbahar Jelilova confirmed that detainees in her camp were forced to abort their children. She also saw a new mother, still leaking breast milk, who did not know what had happened to her infant. And she met doctors and medical students who were detained for helping Uighurs dodge the system and give birth at home." * Gulzia Mogdia was also forced to have an abortion when she became pregnant with her third child. "Medics inserted an electric vacuum into her womb and sucked her fetus out of her body," after which she was "taken home and told to rest, as [officials] planned to take her to a camp."Some survivors recalled being suddenly "force-fed birth control pills" and "injected with fluids." One had to recite her crimes ("I gave birth to too many children") whenever officials came near her cell. Another remembered that a pregnant woman in her camp's "class" had suddenly disappeared.In The Prince of Egypt, when Moses demands an explanation, Pharaoh retorts that the victims were "only slaves." Since slavery doesn't go down so well any more in the West, the Chinese government justifies its actions as a means of preventing terrorism, which is likewise blatant nonsense. These are victims of the state: innocent women and children, the most vulnerable members of an already vulnerable minority. As for the men, one Uighur, Abdushukur Umar, was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for the crime of having seven children. Umar's cousin, who fled China, said that Umar "spent all his time taking care of his family, he never took part in any political movements."In the past, Westerners have been too squeamish to issue a full-throated condemnation of China's inhumane population policies. During the era of the so-called one-child policy, sex-screening technology meant widespread gendercide, since baby girls were seen as less valuable. The Nobel economist Amartya Sen estimated that the policy resulted in 100 million aborted girls. Where was the feminist outcry then?For that matter, where is the outcry now? China's treatment of the Uighurs is reminiscent of the kind of abuse fictionalized in The Handmaid's Tale, yet even the AP report is replete with Western euphemisms, such as involuntary "birth control" and "population control." Get into the details and what the Egyptians did to the Israelites almost seems tame by comparison. Men and women of conscience in the West have a duty to call this out for what it is -- evil.
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| Japan approves dexamethasone as coronavirus treatment Posted: 21 Jul 2020 04:49 PM PDT  Japan's health ministry has approved dexamethasone, a cheap and widely used steroid, as a second treatment of COVID-19 after a trial in Britain showed the drug reduced death rates in hospitalised patients. The ministry included dexamethasone as an option for treatment along with antiviral drug remdesivir in a recent revision to its handbook. In results announced last month, a trial by researchers in the United Kingdom showed dexamethasone as the first drug to save lives of COVID-19 patients in what scientists said was a major breakthrough in the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Marine Corps Begins Shutdown of All Tank Battalions Posted: 21 Jul 2020 08:51 AM PDT  The end of the Marine Corps' tank missions has officially begun.
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| Trump administration sued by 23 states over plans to end health protections for transgender people Posted: 21 Jul 2020 10:34 AM PDT  The Trump administration is being sued by a coalition of Democratic state attorneys in response to its announcement that healthcare discrimination protections for transgender people will be overturned next month.The discrimination protections that were included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), implemented during the Obama administration, stated that people could not be discriminated against because of race, colour, national origin, sex, age or disability.
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| Powerful Ohio lawmaker arrested for role in 'largest bribery scheme' in state history, officials said Posted: 21 Jul 2020 02:14 PM PDT  FBI agents raided the farm of House Speaker Larry Householder in connection to his support of nuclear power plant bailouts.
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| The gunman suspected of attacking Judge Esther Salas' family was a men's rights advocate and self-identified 'anti-feminist' Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:01 PM PDT  Roy Den Hollander, who was found dead of an apparent suicide, is suspected of killing Salas' son and critically injuring her husband.
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| Report: Joe Biden may end up giving the only major Democratic convention speech from Milwaukee Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:45 PM PDT  Joe Biden may be the only one at next month's convention who ends up giving a major speech from the host city of Milwaukee, the Daily Beast reported Monday.
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| Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden says Trump sent federal agents to Portland to boost reelection hopes Posted: 21 Jul 2020 05:03 PM PDT  Sen. Ron Wyden told Yahoo News on Tuesday that he believes the Trump administration's crackdown on protesters in Portland is an unconstitutional and divisive effort to boost the president's sagging reelection efforts.
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| 'There's no corona in the water': Floridians are partying on boats to escape COVID-19, but it's only making the outbreak worse Posted: 21 Jul 2020 12:25 PM PDT  Florida is the third worst-hit state by the outbreak and has the most current coronavirus cases. Some reopening guidelines have been largely ignored.
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| Protesters set fire at Portland courthouse Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:40 PM PDT  Protesters outside the U.S. courthouse in Portland, Ore., set a fire in the building's entryway early Monday.
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| Belarus presidential candidate sends her children abroad after threats Posted: 20 Jul 2020 07:14 AM PDT  The leading opposition presidential candidate in Belarus has sent her children abroad to an undisclosed location in the EU after receiving threats they would be taken away unless she quits the race, an opposition journalist said. Svetlana Tikhanouskaya launched her bid to unseat President Alexander Lukashenko in the Aug. 9 election after her husband, a popular anti-Lukashenko blogger, was arrested in May. On Sunday, she held her first official election campaign rally, attended by thousands of people.
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| American views on race relations have changed dramatically, NBC News/WSJ poll finds Posted: 21 Jul 2020 03:21 AM PDT  Support grows for national anthem protests and removal of Confederate statues in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
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| Hong Kong is Freer Than You Think Posted: 20 Jul 2020 07:08 PM PDT  Barrister and senior Hong Kong politician Ronny Tong argues that criticism of the national security law is misplaced
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| Out of Portland tear gas, an apparition emerges, capturing the imagination of protesters Posted: 19 Jul 2020 07:05 PM PDT  An iconic image has emerged on Twitter since early Saturday morning in Portland, when a woman wearing nothing but a mask and cap strode toward federal agents as they fired tear gas at protesters — a surreal image of human vulnerability in the face of an overpowering force.
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| Seattle sued by family of man killed in autonomous protest zone Posted: 21 Jul 2020 02:09 PM PDT  The man, who was shot in the city's autonomous zone, allegedly was not provided medical treatment.
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| Louisiana parish can move Confederate statue from courthouse Posted: 21 Jul 2020 10:54 AM PDT |
| More than 50 Florida hospitals have run out of ICU beds as coronavirus cases soar Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:16 PM PDT  The Florida Education Association filed a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis over his order to reopen schools and resume in-person classes in August.
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| U.S. records over 1,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day for first time since early June Posted: 21 Jul 2020 04:14 PM PDT  After weeks of declining fatalities, there were more than 5,200 U.S. COVID-19 deaths in the week ended July 19, up 5% from the previous seven days, a Reuters analysis found. Nearly 142,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, a toll that experts warn will likely surge following recent record spikes in case numbers and an alarming rise in hospitalizations in many states. While some of the increase in new cases can be attributed to more testing, hospitalizations, which are not tied to testing numbers, began to surge in late June as well.
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| Biden says four Black women are on his VP list but won't commit to choosing one Posted: 20 Jul 2020 05:11 PM PDT  If elected, Biden, 77, would be the oldest president-elect, which has put an intense focus on his pick for a running mate.
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| The assistant charged with murdering Fahim Saleh used the tech CEO's credit card to buy balloons 2 days later, report says Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:23 AM PDT  In security footage shared by the New York Post, Tyrese Haspil was seen buying birthday balloons from a store in Manhattan, the paper said.
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| Mawla the 'Destroyer', brutal new head of IS group Posted: 20 Jul 2020 07:59 PM PDT  With monikers as divergent as the "Professor" and the "Destroyer", the Islamic State group's new head has a reputation for brutality, but otherwise remains largely an enigma. Amir Mohammed Said Abd al-Rahman al-Mawla replaced Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after his death in a raid by US special forces last October. Mawla was initially presented to the world by the Islamic State (IS) as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi -- a man about whom America and Iraq had little intelligence.
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| 'We already have one Mitt Romney': Trump Jr and Rand Paul among conservatives calling for Liz Cheney to be ousted Posted: 21 Jul 2020 09:55 AM PDT  First it was just a handful conservative rabble-rousers calling out House GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney on Tuesday for defying Donald Trump on the coronavirus pandemic, foreign affairs decisions, and other matters.Then Senator Rand Paul piled on, retweeting Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz' message calling for her removal and writing that the Wyoming congresswoman's behaviour was "unacceptable."
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| Nile dam dispute: Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan agree to resume talks Posted: 21 Jul 2020 04:09 PM PDT  The Grand Renaissance Dam reservoir has been a source of huge diplomatic tension for almost a decade.
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| China vows 'forceful counter-attack' in escalating row with Britain over Hong Kong Posted: 21 Jul 2020 02:33 AM PDT  China threatened a "forceful counter-attack" on Tuesday in response to Britain's announcement that it would suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong following Beijing's introduction of a national security law for the former British colony. On Monday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told parliament the extradition treaty would be suspended immediately and an arms embargo would be extended to Hong Kong.
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| Judge: Show evidence to Iowa reporter arrested at protest Posted: 21 Jul 2020 05:04 PM PDT |
| Disney theme park staff worry about Covid-19: 'I can't bring it back home' Posted: 21 Jul 2020 01:25 AM PDT  Disney's parks in Florida and California are reopening and tens of thousands of workers returning as cases in the states surge Disney World fully reopened all four of its theme parks within its Florida resort last week, even as cases of coronavirus surged, making it one of the world's hotspots for daily increases.Undaunted guests who choose to visit Disney are greeted with a disclaimer on its website: "By visiting Walt Disney World Resort you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to Covid-19."For Disney's workers, many may feel little choice but to assume the risks of returning to the world's most visited theme park, with some expressing fears of the Covid-19 risk, and for their livelihoods.There are about 75,000 employees at Disney World in Florida, and about 30,000 at Disneyland in California, and they are returning as cases are increasing in both states."The imminent danger of loss of health and financial security is a concern that most of us are sharing about reopening, and about fear of closing again," said Dan Rey, a server for 25 years at Disney and a union shop steward with Unite Here.Rey has not been called back to work yet, but is one of thousands of Disney employees who went several weeks before receiving unemployment benefits. Many workers in Florida still have not had their applications processed and paid out. On 26 July, federal unemployment benefits expire, leaving workers in Florida to survive on just the $275 maximum weekly benefit from the state."People are afraid of going back to work because of the imminent threat of contracting Covid, since we, Florida, are now the epicenter of the world for this pandemic, and they are also afraid of not going back to work because we have no financial support," said Rey. "The real problem is that we cannot afford not to work. Our governor here in Florida is still making excuses rather than plans. There are still people who have not received financial support because the unemployment system is so broken."Mike Beaver, an attractions employee at Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom for about 20 years, returned to work on 29 June."When it was announced Disney World would reopen parks, I thought it was too soon, even though some other parks had reopened before Disney," said Beaver. He said during a temperature check he was sent to work, despite receiving a reading that would not register on the thermometer.Bryan Amstutz, a vacation planner at Walt Disney World, said only a third of his department has returned to work so far, and he did not expect to be recalled until January 2021 or later. "I don't get paid enough to police Covid-19," said Amstutz.Parts of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, have begun a phased reopening, while awaiting approval from local and state officials to reopen the parks and hotels."My main concern going back to work is: I have young children and my mom is elderly. I can't bring coronavirus home. It's not really safe to go back to work. The cases are rising in California," said Inez Guzman, who has worked in housekeeping at the Disneyland Hotel for five years.Glynndana Shevlin, a food and beverage worker at Disneyland for 32 years, wants to return to work out of concern she could lose her current apartment, which she's lived in the past two years after experiencing homelessness. But she is also concerned for her safety and that of co-workers and guests. One of her friends and co-workers is currently hospitalized with coronavirus."I live alone and I'm in my 60s. I'm really concerned about going back to work in the sense of safety. We want on-site testing for coronavirus to be available if we need it, and all kinds of safety procedures in place," said Shevlin. "When I come home at night, I don't want to worry if I'm going to be sick and if I am sick, if I'm going to be able to have the correct medicine, healthcare, if I'm going to have enough pay." Union pushing for on-site testingUnite Here local 11 is currently in negotiations with Disney on safety protocols and protections for workers when the parks reopen.Austin Lynch, an organizer involved in negotiating with Disney, said the union had pushed Disney to agree to perform daily temperature checks for workers before they start shifts, and agreed on providing as much personal protective equipment to workers as they need.But the union is still pressuring Disney to provide on-site coronavirus testing for workers, commit to ensuring staffing levels will be provided to conduct extra cleaning and disinfecting, and to extend temperature checks to guests staying at Disney hotels."They haven't covered some of the critical safety areas. Until they do, we don't think it's safe to reopen," said Lynch. "You have to either cover all the bases and go all out to prevent transmission or operate unsafely. Operating and only covering some of the bases just means people are going to get coronavirus."A representative for Disney told the Guardian the opening of Disneyland was pending guidance from state officials, while worker training, a range of health and safety measures, cleaning, disinfecting and technological solutions have been implemented ahead of Disney World's reopening."As we continue the phased reopening of our parks and resorts across the world, promoting health and safety for our guests, cast members and the larger community is a responsibility we take seriously. From increased cleaning and disinfecting across our parks and resorts, to updated health and safety policies, we have reimagined the Disney experience so we can all enjoy the magic responsibly," said the representative in an email.
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| Biden and Sanders Teams Stand Off Over Israeli ‘Occupation’ Posted: 21 Jul 2020 12:48 AM PDT  The Democratic Party's left and moderate wings continue to reach tentative compromises on a number of issues that once fiercely divided them. But there's one perennial political sticking point that's proving immune to the party's kumbaya moment: Israel. In recent years, a vocal and influential chorus of progressives have disagreed privately, and at times rather publicly, with the party's conventional wisdom on Israel. Led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), these progressives have challenged the Democratic establishment consensus view on Israel, vocally criticizing the government there, especially its treatment of the Palestinians. That progressive push has continued as supporters of Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden meet to put together the Democratic National Committee's 2020 platform. Draft language of the section on Israel, which was reviewed by The Daily Beast, offers some compromises and concessions for each side, those familiar with the issue say. But it notably leaves out a word that progressives believe is foundational to the issue. It doesn't mention Israel's "occupation" of the West Bank. To some Democrats, a lack of explicit acknowledgement of Israeli occupation—a term that former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush both used in various contexts—casts a retrograde pall over a platform that is otherwise moving in a progressive direction. That feeling is broadly shared among progressives involved with the platform process, who believe the addition would state the obvious."The reality is that this isn't about policy, but about politics. There's no real substantive disagreement that the Palestinians live under Israeli occupation," said Matt Duss, a top foreign policy adviser to Sanders, who told The Daily Beast it was probable that progressives would offer an occupation amendment to the platform. "At a moment when Americans are mobilizing against racism and inequality here, we think it's important for the Democratic Party to acknowledge the reality there… There's no good reason why Democrats shouldn't be able to say in 2020 what Barack Obama said in 2009."Other Democrats counter that the current language is, in fact, a reflection of where much of the party, not to mention the country, is on the issue, and warn that appearing to abandon traditional pro-Israel views risks political disaster.When the platform drafting committee meets on July 27 to approve the document, progressives are likely to file an amendment that would add in explicit language about occupation. The hope is to spark, at the very least, a serious debate. Whether or not that amendment is approved, there are Democrats who see the issue as an emotionally charged proxy for a broader debate over the direction of the party's foreign policy."The whole occupation argument is kind of inflated," said a former Obama administration official who worked on Middle East issues. "It's a vehicle for a bigger wrestling match over who controls the party—the progressives or the moderates. If the moderates won the primary, they control the process, which is ultimately why 'occupation' isn't in there."There's a wariness in some corners, said the official, that the skirmish could lead to a heated fight that isn't even productive. "I just think it's the wrong debate," the official said. "I hope what [progressives] don't do is make this a huge fight and create a dynamic where the story is progressives lost, because they didn't lose."In the six joint "unity task forces" introduced between Biden and Sanders on immigration, climate change, and criminal justice reform, among other issues in mid-May, foreign policy was notably absent, despite Biden making the topic a prominent part of his campaign to become the nominee. The other task forces have all released their recommendations, leaving the party with a messy hole on issues of global significance, including Israel. They Said They Were Bernie or Bust. Then They Talked Themselves Into Biden.The draft platform, which was approved out of committee before a final vote, states that Democrats "recognize the worth of every Israeli and every Palestinian" and support a "negotiated two-state solution." It staunchly opposes the boycott, divest, and sanction movement, but also says it qualifies as constitutionally protected speech. It says Jerusalem is the "undivided" capital of Israel but it also opposes expansion of Israeli settlements, which is being pushed by Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-wing Israeli prime minister.Within the DNC, which is tasked with binding together longstanding disagreements for the sake of agreement against the Republican Party, one progressive has been an especially outspoken vessel for advocating a change that, in his estimation, would more accurately represent the political views of Democratic voters on the issue.Jim Zogby, a DNC member who is president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, conceded that the party has made some progress in addressing his and other progressives' concerns, but that it remains inflexible on a few key points. "They still won't let the word occupation into the platform," Zogby said. "You would think there would be more openness to deal with political realities, and yet, they're still stuck."Similarly, the same outspoken faction of the party also believes that a platform which appears to support the Netanyahu government too fully could alienate battleground states needed for Biden's electoral coalition. "What I'm fearful of is if you take a platform that is 20 years behind the times, you could dampen enthusiasm in the Arab community and that could cost votes in Michigan," said Zogby, also tossing in Pennsylvania and Ohio, three states included as possible targets for Biden's path to victory.There are signs that some parts of the electorate may be less supportive of the Israeli government's actions than they may have been in the past. Increasing numbers of Democratic lawmakers have been willing to criticize the country's leadership and decisions, particularly on Netanyahu's threat to annex the West Bank. Some surveys have shown shifts of opinion on things like ironclad American military aid to Israel. Data for Progress, a left-leaning think tank, commissioned a poll in September 2019 that demonstrated a shifting view towards U.S. aid to Israel, showing that 45 percent of voters support reducing aid to Israel on the basis of human rights violations, while 34 percent were opposed.But a group aligned with the traditional Democratic establishment view, Democratic Majority for Israel, commissioned a separate poll that touches on the party platform specifically, and it provides a stark counterweight to Data for Progress' numbers. The recent survey, done by Mark Mellman, the longtime Democratic strategist who is also president of DFMI, finds that 71 percent of Democrats and 72 percent of voters in a set of 15 battleground states would like to see a platform that is "as least as pro-Israel" as the 2016 platform.Mellman told The Daily Beast "there may be some loud voices" pushing for a more pro-Palestinian platform, but they don't constitute "even a significant minority" of the party, per his polling. "A platform that enables people to label the party as anti-Israel is extremely politically damaging to Democratic candidates around the country… it's the difference between lots of Democrats winning and lots of Democrats losing," he said. "The reality is, the platform drafting committee accepted this unanimously because I think they recognize these realities."Mellman, whose group spent millions attacking Sanders during the primary, argued that elements of the party aimed to "sow hatred of Israel" by supporting occupation language in the platform. Past platforms, he said, have done the right thing by including a two-state solution, "which gives Palestinians dignity and independence in a state of their own, which allows a Jewish state of Israel to live in security and peace. That to me is a goal, an aspiration, a platform. I don't say that's one-sided." The platform fight comes as Biden has taken new steps to reach out to as many voting constituencies as possible. Throughout much of the primary, Biden pitched, convincingly, that he could create the "broad coalition" needed to beat Trump, and is working towards that goal just months ahead of the general election. During a Monday afternoon Zoom conference call, Biden joined Muslim advocates and leaders who have endorsed his bid. "We have a swing state strategy and we will deliver for you," Khurrum Wahid, the national chair of Emgage, a Muslim political group hoping to turn out 1 million Muslim voters, said on the virtual call in introducing Biden. Wahid pointed to battlegrounds Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida, as well Texas and Arizona, as possible Democratic pickup opportunities with Muslim voters' help. Biden sought to turn the attention back on Trump's attacks on the community: "Muslim Americans were the first to feel Donald Trump's assault," he said on Monday, adding he would overturn his administration's so-called "Muslim ban" on the first day of his presidency. Later he said: "I'll continue to champion the rights of Palestians and Israels to have a state of their own, as I have for decades. Each of them, a state of their own."Outside observers say the Biden campaign is walking a well-worn political tightrope on Israel issues. "Part of the old-think is, you have to run the numbers and make assessments about what's more important: the larger group of older Jewish voters in Florida who might vote for Trump, or is it a smaller group of Arab-Americans in Michigan who might stay home because they're frustrated with Biden? What does the campaign care more about?" said the former Obama administration official. The omission of more pro-Palestinian language, the official said, "was definitely a part of the political calculus."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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