Trump says he will look 'very strongly' at granting pardon to whistleblower Edward Snowden

Whistleblower Edward Snowden, considered a traitor by some and a hero by others, has been living in exile in Moscow since leaking spy secrets.

Oregon State Police Withdraws from Portland Courthouse after D.A. Announces He Won’t Prosecute Most Rioters

Oregon state police are backing out of an agreement to protect the Portland federal courthouse from rioters, after the Multnomah County district attorney announced he will not prosecute most rioters who are arrested.Portland has seen riots almost every night since the May death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers. Rioters initially targeted the federal courthouse in the city, but after federal and state law enforcement came to an agreement to jointly protect the courthouse, rioters moved on to attack city police.Multnomah County D.A. Mike Schmidt announced on Tuesday that his office would not prosecute most rioters who have been arrested, except where charges include deliberate property damage, theft, or threat of violence. Police have arrested over 500 people since the riots began, but less than 50 have been prosecuted so far.Oregon state police told KOIN 6 on Thursday that they are ending their deployment at Portland's federal courthouse because of anger over Schmidt's decision after being called in to assist as part of the agreement reached between local authorities and the federal government.“The Oregon State Police is continually reassessing our resources and the needs of our partner agencies and at this time we are inclined to move those resources back to counties where prosecution of criminal conduct is still a priority," OSP said in a statement.Governor Kate Brown said the withdrawal was being coordinated between all relevant agencies."This transition was made in coordination with local and federal officials," Brown wrote on Twitter. "If further state support is needed in Portland, OSP troopers will be available to return to the city.""The OSP Troopers assigned to this event demonstrated the best traditions of the agency's commitment to service, however, our initial commitment to the City of Portland has concluded and it is time we integrate this valuable resource back to their respective communities," OSP said in a statement to National Review. "OSP will always be here for Portland, as we have for decades and I'll continue to assess subsequent resource demands with the Portland Police Bureau Chief, whom I have a great deal of respect for and a strong working relationship."

Lindsey Graham breaks with Trump: ‘No issue’ whether Kamala Harris is US citizen

Trump stoked an untrue theory that Harris isn’t eligible to be vice president.

New Jeffrey Epstein Victims, Including 11-Year-Old Girl, Come Forward in Lawsuit

A Florida woman who alleges Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulted her when she was 11-years-old is among nine accusers who have filed a new lawsuit against the millionaire pedophile’s estate.The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges Epstein sexually abused them from as early as 1978—far earlier than Epstein’s previously known instances of abuse—and continued until 2004. Five of the women in the lawsuit claim they were underage when they were abused, including a Tennessee woman who says she was 13 when the financier raped her multiple times. The other four women in the lawsuit were over 18. They were part of a “massive sex trafficking network” run by Epstein for him and his wealthy and powerful friends, it claims.Victoria’s Secret Mogul May Finally Have to Explain His Epstein Ties“These nine Plaintiffs come forward to stand up for themselves and others, after they were sexually abused and assaulted by Epstein,” the lawsuit says. “Some... were raped by Epstein, repeatedly.”Epstein, 66, was found dead by suicide in his jail cell at Manhattan Correction Center last month. The sex offender was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges for allegedly abusing dozens of underage girls over two decades, beginning in the 1990s. The charges came 12 years after the disgraced businessman pleaded guilty in state court in Florida to soliciting prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months behind bars in a widely criticized plea deal, and served 13 before he was released.Some of the most shocking claims detailed in the new suit relate to the woman from Tennessee, whose alleged abuse started in 1978 when she was 13, and continued for a long period. Epstein “sexually assaulted, abused, battered and raped her multiple times,” the lawsuit says.This assault is the oldest abuse allegation against Epstein, who would have been 25 at the time and working on Wall Street after leaving his teaching gig at the Manhattan prep school Dalton. A woman from Florida alleges in the suit that, in 1993, when she was just 11 years old, Epstein “sexually assaulted, abused, battered and digitally penetrated her on three, separate occasions.” She also alleges Epstein forced her “to perform oral sex on him,” according to the lawsuit. How We Got the Scoop on Jeffrey Epstein’s Arrest“As a result of the aforementioned sexual abuse, [the woman] suffered and continues to suffer from severe and serious injuries including... severe emotional distress and physical manifestations thereof,” the lawsuit states.The women were allegedly sexually abused by Epstein and his associates in New York, Florida, New Mexico, California, and the United States Virgin Islands—but the suit also claims abuse happened in South Carolina, a location not mentioned in previous lawsuits and criminal cases against Epstein. The suit doesn’t detail how the females met Epstein, or how they came to file a lawsuit together. They were able to sue Epstein’s estate due to New York’s Child Victims Act—which allows individuals abused as children to bring claims regardless of the statute of limitations.Dozens of victims have laid claim to Epstein’s estate, which includes his unsold $88 million Manhattan mansion.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.

Ex-FBI lawyer to plead guilty in Trump-Russia probe review

A former FBI lawyer plans to plead guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case arising from U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the probe of ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign, his lawyer said Friday. Kevin Clinesmith is accused of altering a government email about a former Trump campaign adviser who was a target of secret FBI surveillance, according to documents filed in Washington's federal court.

Hillary Clinton would 'consider' working for a Biden administration

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would consider a role in Joe Biden's administration if the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is elected in November."I'm ready to help in any way I can because I think this will be a moment where every American – I don't care what party you are, I don't care what age, race, gender, I don't care – every American should want to fix our country," Ms Clinton said.

These states require travelers to self-quarantine or present negative COVID-19 test

States are opening back up, but some still require or recommend visitors self-quarantine for two weeks. Find out where.

Russia offered to help the US develop a coronavirus vaccine, but the Americans said no because they don't trust it, report says

Russia on Tuesday became first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine. It has not gone through phase 3 testing, however, and data is being kept secret.

‘Trump may be crazy, but he’s not stupid’: Bernie Sanders lashes out at president’s opposition to funding postal service

Senator Bernie Sanders has hit out at Donald Trump’s opposition to provide funding for the US Postal Service, claiming he is attempting to “suppress” the US vote in November’s election.Mr Trump, who has been a vocal critic of the use of widespread mail-in voting amidst the coronavirus pandemic, said on Thursday that he opposes the provision of funding for the service proposed by Democrats.

Tribute in Lights Will Shine After All, Officials Say

By BY AIMEE ORTIZ from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3fXM6JH

Female member of Afghan peace team survives attack by gunmen

A female member of Afghanistan's peace negotiating team was lightly wounded in an assassination attempt, officials said Saturday. Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said Fawzia Koofi, who is also a former parliamentarian, was attacked Friday afternoon near the capital Kabul while returning from a visit to the northern province of Parwan. Koofi is part of a 21-member team charged with representing the Afghan government in upcoming peace talks with the Taliban, following a U.S. deal with the militants that was struck in February.

New tropical threat could emerge along East Coast

Josephine ended a brief lull in Atlantic tropical activity, as it developed and clinched a new Atlantic record on Thursday. However, the storm is expected to take a curved path well away from North America into next week. Now, meteorologists are watching a disturbance closer to home that was born from showers and thunderstorms over the southeastern United States -- and it has a chance at very soon becoming the next tropical storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. This image, captured during Friday afternoon, August 14, 2020, revealed banding structure to the clouds and the hint of a low-level circulation just off the Delmarva coast. These conditions are indicative of a budding tropical cyclone. (NOAA/GOES-East) The feature, which the National Hurricane Center has dubbed Invest 96L, is moving away from the East Coast, so there's no threat of a landfall from a budding tropical storm. However, the rapidly organizing and strengthening system has already been playing a role in raising surf along the mid-Atlantic coast and is likely to do the same in southeastern New England this weekend. AccuWeather meteorologists are keeping an eye out for potential tropical development off the East Coast. A Friday, Aug. 14, 2020, satellite loop shows clouds associated with a stalled boundary that could generate the next Atlantic system. (AccuWeather) "There is a high chance this disturbance evolves enough to become a tropical depression and tropical storm as it moves out to sea at any time through this weekend," AccuWeather's top hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski said. "The system will be over sufficiently warm water, and if it stays south of strong wind shear to the north, it can strengthen," Kottlowski added.Rain directly from this system is not likely to fall on the Northeast. However, there are other non-tropical systems that will continue to instigate some weather trouble spots during the weekend. Showers over the lower part of the mid-Atlantic and Southeast states will be triggered by the same stalled weather pattern that has persisted much of this week. Meanwhile, a non-tropical storm at the jet stream level of the atmosphere could produce spotty showers in eastern New England on Saturday.The circulation around the system off the East Coast could actually tend to drag drier air southward over part of the mid-Atlantic coast on Saturday and could prevent the rain dampening the South from spreading northward over New England on Sunday.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP Part of the reason for breezy to windy conditions and rough surf along the mid-Atlantic coast, in addition to the disturbance itself, has to do with the difference in atmosphere pressure from north to south. An area of high pressure was hovering over southeastern Canada. As the air will flow from high to low pressure from the disturbance, it will create breezy, if not windy, conditions. Proximity to the smooth ocean surface and the disturbance itself can add several miles per hour to the strength of the wind.Since some of the flow of air is blowing in from the ocean, that landward breeze is helping to raise surf and cause slightly-above-normal tides from North Carolina to New Jersey and will continue to do so into Saturday. Tides can be a foot or two above normal, which can be enough to cause minor coastal flooding at times of high tide in some communities.As the system drifts northeastward, seas and surf are likely to build along the southeastern New England coast early this weekend, regardless of the official classification of the system. Forecasters urge bathers to be on the alert for increasing rip currents.Small craft advisories were in effect along the East Coast from the Maryland and Delaware up through coastal Maine on Friday. Southeastern New England will be in for a windy day on Saturday. Steering winds should likely keep the system far enough away from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to avoid direct impact, but a period of rough seas and surf could occur early next week in this part of Canada.With Kyle as the next name on the list of storms for the Atlantic in 2020, if the system forms in the next several days, then it would set an early-season formation record for the letter "K." The current record belongs to the infamous Katrina from Aug. 24, 2005.The 2020 Atlantic tropical cyclone season has already set seven early-season formation records starting with Cristobal in July and then six storms in a row from Edouard through Josephine. All of the last six storms previous early-season records were set during the notorious 2005 season that went on to bring Katrina and Wilma.Most likely, 2020 will continue to set many more early-season formation records, and this year could be second only to the number of named storms set during the historic 2005 season, which generated a record 28 storms. Like the 2005 season, Greek letters, which are used when the seasonal list is exhausted could again be needed this year, forecasters warn.Additional threats from the tropics will warrant a close eye from forecasters into the next week."In addition for the potential for a tropical system to develop from the train of tropical disturbances, known as tropical waves, moving westward from Africa, we will be keeping an eye on the Gulf of Mexico next week," Kottlowski said.Following the name Kyle, the "L" storm for this year in the Atlantic is Laura. The early-season formation record for the "L" storm is Luis set on Aug. 29, 1995.A feature similar to the disturbance along the Atlantic coast could set up over the Gulf of Mexico next week."During the latter part of next week, a tropical disturbance could evolve over the central to northern part of the Gulf of Mexico," added Kottlowski."We continue to expect a very busy time from late August through September and October and especially during the heart of the hurricane season in September, and there is some indication that we may continue to have named systems toward the end of the season," Kottlowski said.AccuWeather is predicting up to 24 named tropical storms with nine to 11 of those expected to strengthen further into hurricanes this season in the Atlantic basin.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

Ex-FBI lawyer to plead guilty to falsifying documents in Russia inquiry; first case brought in DOJ review

Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was charged with making false statements in the Russia inquiry.

Georgia park with Confederate sculpture shuts gates to rally

Suburban Atlanta's Stone Mountain Park, home of a giant sculpture of Confederate leaders, says it will close its gates Saturday in the face of a planned right-wing rally. Pro-Confederate, white supremacist and other right-wing groups had planned their event in response to a march by the Black militia group on July 4. Last year, the park also closed down rather than allow a rally organized by white supremacists to go forward.

Meghan Markle: ‘There’s So Much Toxicity Out There’

Meghan Markle has revealed she was “devastated” to return to America in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, but said the protests that followed and the subsequent social and cultural reckoning have “inspired” her. Prince Harry Was ‘Incandescent With Rage’ at the Racism Meghan Markle FacedMeghan, speaking to Emily Ramshaw, co-founder and CEO of The 19th*—as part of the site’s “The 19th* Represents 2020 Virtual Summit”—said it was “just devastating, so sad, to see where the country was in that moment.” In the peaceful protests and seeing how people “owned” their part in discriminating against others—specifically Black people—Meghan’s feeling “shifted from sadness to a feeling of absolute inspiration, because I can see the tide is turning.”“From my standpoint, it’s not new to see this undercurrent of racism and certainly unconscious bias,” Meghan said.Signaling she was relieved of being free to speak her mind now no longer a “senior royal,” Meghan said she was looking forward to using her voice “in a way that I haven’t been able to of late. So, yeah, it’s good to be home.”Meghan was cast as interviewer in the exchange, congratulating Ramshaw in setting up the non-profit woman-focused politics and culture site. Then Ramshaw asked Meghan why she thought a woman-focused news organization was needed.Meghan’s answer began by noting how a man had originated the word “suffragette,” originally intended as belittling—and what this symbolized in terms of the “ability of influence,” which when coming “from a patriarchal lens…shapes everything we see.”Meghan did not speak about the various legal cases she and Prince Harry have launched against the media—and neither was she asked about them. Nor was she asked about the couple’s meetings with senior figures in the digital world over their demand to de-fund “hate” platforms.Invoking her own “standpoint and personal experience,” Meghan said: “The headline is the clickbait alone. It makes an imprint. That is part of how we start to view the world, how we interact with other people. I think there’s so much toxicity out there.” Harry and she talk about it often, she said, “this economy for attention. That is what is monetizable right now when you’re looking at the digital space and media. If you’re just trying to grab someone’s attention and keep it, you’re going for something salacious versus something truthful.”Instead, Meghan said she wanted journalists to “tell the truth in reporting…through a compassionate and empathetic lens.” This would “help bind people as a community,” she claimed.Meghan went on to talk about the importance of women exercising their right to vote, and to “be really aware of not taking it for granted. My husband has not been able to vote.” (The Royal Family can vote in British elections, but have long chosen not to, according to their stance of political neutrality.)“The right to vote is not a privilege; it is a right in and of itself,” Meghan said. Women’s voices, she said, “are needed now more than ever, and the best way to exercise that is through voting.”Meghan concluded: “From my standpoint, it’s not new to see this undercurrent of racism and certainly unconscious bias, but I think to see the changes that are being made right now is really—it’s something I look forward to being a part of. And being part of using my voice in a way that I haven’t been able to of late. So, yeah, it’s good to be home.”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.

Why this absentee voter says she's 'extremely concerned' about Trump's attacks on the Postal Service

Polarized is a weekly series featuring Americans from all 50 states sharing their views on the 2020 elections. Click here if you would like to be a part of this projectGloria Jean Matzig will vote for the tenth time this year by casting an absentee ballot from Germany, where she has lived for over 30 years.

Fauci slammed Tucker Carlson, saying he 'triggers some of the crazies' to attack him and that it's 'ridiculous' that he needs personal security to protect him

Fox News host Tucker Carlson has repeatedly criticized infectious-diseases expert Anthony Fauci's expertise of late.

High school football to resume in Florida over the advice from doctors

A member of the sports body's medical advisory committee said playing now only "adds fuel to the fire” of coronavirus.

He applied to work security at a Key West bar. Police say he’s part of a murder plot

Key West police and U.S. Marshals arrested a man this week who recently applied to work security at a bar in the Southernmost City who turned out to be a suspect in a stalking and attempted murder case in Nebraska.

Trump visits brother in New York hospital

"He's having a tough time," the president said, though the younger sibling's condition is unclear.

Paris Declared ‘Red Zone’ as Second COVID Wave Hits Spain and France

ROME—Europe is bracing for a second wave of COVID-19 as the busy tourist season reaches its peak this weekend.In France, the government on Friday declared the cities of Paris and Marseilles and the surrounding regions “red zones” after a spike in new cases sent authorities scrambling to contain outbreaks largely driven by visiting tourists and careless young people.On Thursday, France reported more than 2,500 new infections of COVID-19 for the second day in a row, taking the country back to mid-April levels, when much of Europe was on lockdown.The situation isn’t much better in Spain, where officials there warn of a “critical moment” after the military was dispatched to the northeastern city of Zaragoza to rebuild a field hospital that was taken down four months ago.There Is No ‘Russia Vaccine’ Spain has an infection rate of 100 per 100,000, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, which is the highest in Europe after the tiny country of Luxembourg. France has a rate of 32 cases per 100,000.The United Kingdom, which came into coronavirus restrictions later than much of the rest of Europe, has added France to the list of countries, including Spain, from which visitors must now quarantine for 14 days upon entry, sparking anger among travelers who are still on holiday in France.Italy, which was once the Eurozone’s epicenter for the virus, has a rate of just 8.2 cases per 100,000, but the country is still under very strict guidelines, including a face-mask mandate in all public spaces since March. France, by comparison, only mandated face coverings indoors on July 20.Italy has also started an aggressive testing program under which all travelers from Greece, Croatia, Malta, and Spain must be tested on arrival or present a testing certificate within 72 hours, though there are flaws in the system, especially at smaller airports that do not have adequate resources to carry out the tests or follow up on contact tracing. As of Friday, France looked likely to join the list. A smaller spike in Italy of around 500 new cases a day this week, up from the lower hundreds, has been attributed to young people returning from those countries.The Italian government has extended the state of emergency to Sept. 7, which allows regions to impose restrictions and close certain sectors tied to outbreaks. “We must continue to be cautious in order to protect the results obtained thanks to sacrifices made by all in recent months,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza said this week.How Is New York Having Crazy Parties With No COVID Surge?In the Netherlands, authorities have warned that young people are also to blame for a spike of about 600 new cases a day, up from 40, according to BBC News. The Dutch health ministry spokesperson Joba van den Berg said 70 percent of cases stemmed from private gatherings held by people trying to skirt restrictions on gatherings.“I do understand it is difficult, with summer time, parties, family gatherings, wedding, funerals,” van den Berg told the BBC. “But many people are too close together and they are the source of the enormous increase in infections.” Europeans are now looking to how other countries are handling their outbreak. New Zealand, which went more than 100 days without a single new case, has gone under partial lockdown after a cluster was found that is potentially tied to a frozen food plant.Australia has also successfully fought back a spike by locking down large swaths of the country to mitigate the spread. It is unclear whether plans in place in many European countries to open schools in person next month will be affected by the threat of what clearly looks like it could be a second wave.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.

Dallas police plan changes after examining protest response

Fact check: Kamala Harris didn't say she'd send police to take firearms via executive order

Sen. Kamala Harris never said that she would sign an executive order to allow police to take people's guns away.

Imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer begins hunger strike

A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer has begun a hunger strike seeking better prison conditions and the release of political prisoners amid the pandemic, her husband said Thursday. Reza Khandan told The Associated Press his wife Nasrin Sotoudeh began the strike Tuesday and he feared it would exacerbate her chronic gastrointestinal and foot problems. Iran has the highest number of virus-related deaths in the region with 19,162 after 174 died since Wednesday.

U.S. requires Confucius Institute center to register as foreign mission

Washington said on Thursday it was requiring the center that manages Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes in the United States to register as a foreign mission, in a further sign of deteriorating bilateral relations. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a statement, labeled the Confucius Institute U.S. Center in Washington "an entity advancing Beijing's global propaganda and malign influence campaign on U.S. campuses and K-12 classrooms." David Stilwell, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, told a briefing the dozens of Confucius Institutes in the United States were not being kicked out, but said U.S. universities should take a "hard look" at what they were doing on campus.

Israel to normalise relations with UAE in historic deal

Donald Trump, the US president, said on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state. The announcement makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state to do so and only the third Arab nation to have active diplomatic ties to Israel. Trump tweeted a statement from the countries, acknowledging the deal. He then told reporters in the Oval Office that it was "a truly historic moment." "Now that the ice has been broken I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates," he said. The recognition grants a rare diplomatic win to Trump ahead of the November election as his efforts to see an end to the war in Afghanistan have yet to come to fruition while efforts to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians have made no headway. For Israel, the announcement comes after years of boasting by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his government enjoys closer ties to Arab nations than publicly acknowledged. Mr Netanyahu has sought to build settlements on lands sought by the Palestinians and embraced a Trump proposal that would allow him to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank while granting Palestinians limited autonomy in other areas.

43 felony charges, new task forces: Here's what Chicago is doing to combat potential looting

Dozens of people have been charged in connection with widespread looting in downtown Chicago earlier this week, the county prosecutor said.

Mei Xiang, the National Zoo's female giant panda, is very pregnant and her cub could come as soon as this weekend

The panda cub could be the first cub at The National Zoo since Bei Bei was born in 2015. He left to China last year.

The 12 fastest-selling new cars during the pandemic are almost all SUVs

The list is topped by the Chevrolet Trailblazer, which spent an average of 19 days on the market between March and June 2020.

Mozambique's leader blames 'war' in north on wealth-seekers

U.S. judge dismisses NRA lawsuit challenging gun shop closures in New York state

A federal judge on Friday dismissed the National Rifle Association's lawsuit challenging New York's decision to close gun stores in the state in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. The decision came eight days after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the gun rights group, accusing senior leaders of corruption including the improper diversion of millions of dollars. U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino said the NRA lacked standing to challenge on behalf of its members a March 20 executive order by Governor Andrew Cuomo requiring gun stores to close in the state because they were "non-essential" businesses.

US seizes millions of dollars of Iranian fuel bound for Venezuela

The US says it seized 1.1 million barrels of fuel from four tankers en route to Venezuela.

AOC responds to apparent Democratic party convention speech snub: 'Eternity is in it'

Firebrand lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at an alleged snub by the Democratic party after being given just 60 seconds to deliver a speech a next week’s convention.AOC responded on Twitter by posting the poem ‘I have only just a minute’, written by the late Dr Benjamin E. Mays, an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader.

When Trump Calls a Black Woman ‘Angry,’ He Feeds This Racist Trope

By BY MELENA RYZIK, REGGIE UGWU, MAYA PHILLIPS AND JULIA JACOBS from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/3aogVGr

A Dictatorship in Belarus Is Shaken

By BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3kKVu79

Mourners Remember Fort Hood Spc. Vanessa Guillen

By BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/30ZHajs

Postal Service Warns States It May Not Meet Mail-In Ballot Deadlines

By BY LUKE BROADWATER, HAILEY FUCHS AND NICK CORASANITI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3fXLJPr

Billy Goldenberg, TV, Movie and Stage Composer, Dies at 84

By BY RICHARD SANDOMIR from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/3aoXwFn

Trump says he is holding up coronavirus aid to block Postal Service funds for voting by mail

The president said on Thursday that he is willing to block a relief package because it contains money for the U.S. Postal Service that would shore up election infrastructure amid the pandemic.

Bald eagle takes down government drone

The device was mapping shoreline erosion when it was attacked in the air.

Venezuela jails 15 for decades over botched invasion

Venezuela on Friday sentenced 15 people to more than two decades in prison over a failed invasion plot that President Nicolas Maduro has said was an attempt to overthrow him.

Minneapolis officer’s bodycam footage shows emotional crowd during George Floyd’s arrest

Newly released bodycam footage from one of the officers at the scene of George Floyd’s arrest, shows an emotional crowd pleading with police to get off him in the moments leading up to his death.The footage, that was made available by the Minneapolis Police Department on Thursday, is from the bodycam of Tou Thao, one of the four officers fired after Mr Floyd’s death on 25 May, according to HuffPost.

Pentagon reportedly forming UFO commission after Trump told Fox host he'd look into it

A week after President Donald Trump told Fox Business host Lou Dobbs that he would follow the conspiracy theory-peddling host's lead on investigating UFOs, CNN is reporting that the Pentagon is forming a UFO task force. According to that report, the task force is being headed by Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist and will be announced soon. Other entities with sway in Washington, D.C. ...

He used social media to pimp a 14-year-old in Miami airport hotels, cops say. He’s 17

A 14-year-old runaway told cops she got sold for sex at hotels across the street from Miami International Airport up to five times a day, according to a police report. The first statutory rapist called himself “Slime,” the girl said. He paid in Percocet.

Top two Democrats in Congress call on U.S. postmaster general to reverse course: statement

The top two Democrats in Congress called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Friday to reverse postal service changes they say have led to mail delays. "Postmaster General DeJoy must quickly reverse his operational changes that have led to delays and service reductions for too many Americans and threaten to undermine our democracy," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. DeJoy, who has donated $2.7 million to Trump and his fellow Republicans since 2017, in July ordered operational changes and a clampdown on overtime in a bid to fix the financially troubled service.

Distrust of authority fuels virus misinformation for Latinos

When Claudia Guzman suspected she had caught the coronavirus, her friends and family were full of advice: Don’t quarantine. A homemade tea will help cure you. False claims and conspiracy theories, ranging from bogus cures to the idea that the virus is a hoax, have dogged efforts to control the pandemic from the beginning.

Teens and young adults who vape are 5 to 7 times more likely to get coronavirus, a new study found

Health experts had warned that vaping could leave lungs susceptible to severe COVID-19 infections. Now they have the data to show it.

Bill Cosby files new appeal over sexual assault conviction

US comedian Bill Cosby, who is serving three and a half years in jail, has filed a new appeal against his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 15 years ago. In court documents filed Tuesday with Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, Cosby's lawyers argue that five women should not have been allowed to give evidence at his trial as witnesses. The attorneys also argue it was "fundamentally unfair" that deposition testimony Cosby gave in a civil case regarding his use of sedative drugs and his sexual behaviors in the 1970s was heard in court.

US says Iran briefly seizes oil tanker near Strait of Hormuz

The Iranian navy boarded and briefly seized a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S., the American military said Thursday. The U.S. military's Central Command published a black-and-white video showing what appeared to be special forces fast-roping down from a helicopter onto the MT Wila, whose last position appeared to be off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates near the city of Khorfakkan. The Iranian navy held the vessel for some five hours before releasing it Wednesday, said a U.S. military official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.

Turkey's president warns attack against Turkish ships will pay 'high price'

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that any attack on a Turkish ship exploring for oil and gas in disputed Mediterranean waters would incur a "high price" and suggested Turkey had already acted on that warning.

After the civil rights era, white Americans failed to support systemic change to end racism. Will they now?

The first wave of the Black Lives Matter movement, which crested after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, had the support of less than half of white Americans.Given that Americans tend to have a very narrow definition of racism, many at that time were likely confused by the juxtaposition of Black-led protests, implying that racism was persistent, alongside the presence of a Black family in the White House. Barack Obama’s presidency was seen as evidence that racism was in decline. The current, second wave of the movement feels different, in part because the past months of protests have been multiracial. The media and scholars have noted that whites’ sensibilities have become more attuned to issues of anti-Black police violence and discrimination. After the first wave of the movement in 2014, there was little systemic change in response to demands by Black Lives Matter activists. Does the fact that whites are participating in the current protests in greater numbers mean that the outcome of these protests will be different? Will whites go beyond participating in marches and actually support fundamental policy changes to fight anti-Black violence and discrimination?As a scholar of political science and African American studies, I believe there are lessons from the civil rights movement 60 years ago that can help answer those questions. Principles didn’t turn into policyThe challenges that Black Americans face today do not precisely mimic those of the 1960s, but the history is still relevant. During the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century, there was a concerted effort among Black freedom fighters to show white Americans the kinds of racial terrorism the average Black American lived under. Through the power of television, whites were able to see with their own eyes how respectable, nonviolent Black youth were treated by police as they sought to push the U.S. to live up to its creed of liberty and equality for all of its citizens.Monumental legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed, purportedly guaranteeing protection from racial discrimination in many public spaces and equal opportunity to register to vote and cast a ballot. Additionally, whites were increasingly likely to report attitudes that many would now view as nonracist over the following several decades. For example, white Americans were more willing to have a nonwhite neighbor. They were less likely to support ideas of biological racism or the idea that whites should always have access to better jobs over Blacks.But these changed values and attitudes among whites never fully translated into support for government policies that would bring racial equality to fruition for Blacks. White Americans remained uncommitted to integrating public schools, which has been shown to drastically reduce the so-called racial achievement gap. Whites never gave more than a modicum of support for affirmative action policies aimed to level the playing field for jobs and higher education.This phenomenon – the distance between what people say they value and what they are willing to do to live up to their ideals – is so common that social scientists have given it a name: the principle-policy gap.White Americans’ direct witness of police brutality led to a shift in racial attitudes and the passage of significant legislation. But even these combined changes did not radically change the face of racial inequality in American society. Going backwardBy the 1970s and 1980s, political leaders would capitalize on whites’ sentiments that efforts for racial equality had gone too far.That created an environment that allowed the retrenchment of civil rights-era gains. The Republican Party’s so-called “Southern Strategy,” which aimed to turn white Southern Democrats into Republican voters, was successful in consolidating the support of white Southerners through the use of racial dog whistles. And the War on Drugs would serve to disproportionately target and police already segregated Black communities.By the 1990s, racial disparities in incarceration rates had skyrocketed, schools began to resegregate, and federal and state policies that created residential segregation and the existing racial wealth gap were never adequately addressed. From understanding to action?Scholars have made efforts to reveal the intricate and structural nature of racism in the U.S. Their analyses range from showing how racial disparities across various domains of American life are intricately connected rather than coincidental; to highlighting the ways in which race-neutral policies like the GI Bill helped to set the stage for today’s racial wealth gap; to explaining that America’s racial hierarchy is a caste system. But my research shows that white Americans, including white millennials, have largely become accustomed to thinking about racism in terms of overt racial prejudice, discrimination and bigotry. They don’t see the deeper, more intractable problems that scholars – and Black activists – have laid out. [Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]Consequently, it has taken a filmed incident of incendiary racism to awaken whites to the problems clearly identified by Black activists, just as it did for previous generations.My research also shows that individuals’ understanding of the problem influences their willingness to support various policies. A big issue that our society faces, then, is that white Americans’ understanding of racism is too superficial to prompt them to support policies that have the potential to lead to greater justice for Black Americans. Attitudes and policies don’t matchSome have suggested that this second wave of the Black Lives Matter movement is the largest social movement in American history. These protests have led local representatives to publicly proclaim that Black Lives Matter; policymakers, government officials and corporations to decry and remove Confederate symbols and racist images; and congressional as well as local attempts to address police accountability.But, as after the civil rights era, the principle-policy gap seems to be reappearing. Attitudes among whites are changing, but the policies that people are willing to support do not necessarily address the more complex issue of structural racism. For example, polling reveals that people support both these protests and also the way that police are handling them, despite evidence of ongoing brutality. The polling also shows that the majority of Americans believe that police are more likely to use deadly force against Black Americans than against whites. But only one-quarter of those polled are willing to support efforts to reduce funding to police – a policy aimed to redistribute funds to support community equity. More whites are willing to acknowledge white racial privilege, but only about one in eight support reparations to Blacks.Americans may choose to dig deeper this time around. Some state legislators, for example, are attempting to leverage this moment to create more systemic changes beyond policing – in schools, judicial systems and health matters. But ultimately, Americans will have to overcome two intertwined challenges. First, they will have to learn to detect forms of racism that don’t lend themselves to a mobile-phone filming. And they will have to recognize that dismantling centuries of oppression takes more than acknowledgment, understanding and well-meaning sentiment. It takes sacrifice and action.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * African Americans have long defied white supremacy and celebrated Black culture in public spaces * How the failures of the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty set the stage for today’s anti-racist uprisingsCandis Watts Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Republican lawmaker slams far-right conspiracy theory QAnon. Trump's team fires back.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger condemned QAnon, saying it has "no place in Congress" on the heels of several GOP candidates who espouse the theory winning primaries.