| White House says Trump was merely 'raising questions' with baseless claim about Buffalo protester Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:01 AM PDT  Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president's baseless claim suggesting that a 75-year-old man knocked to the ground by police in Buffalo, N.Y., last week was a member of antifa.
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| Coronavirus infections appear to spike in U.S. even as they decline elsewhere Posted: 10 Jun 2020 01:19 PM PDT  While many countries are seeing a decline in COVID-19 cases, infections in the United States appear to be spiking, according to documents obtained by Yahoo News.
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| The Monster Cop Who Encountered George Floyd in Houston Posted: 10 Jun 2020 01:16 AM PDT  Among the mourners at George Floyd's funeral was Harris County Attorney Kim Ogg, whose office sent Floyd a letter last year saying he may have been a victim of a police injustice, long before the one that killed him.The letter is dated March 8, 2019, and was sent to 3512 Nalle St. in Houston, the last address listed in court records. His mother, Larcenia Floyd, resided there until her death on May 30, 2018. Floyd had not lived here since 2014, when he moved to Minneapolis. He may have never received the notification that addressed him not as Mr. Floyd or as George Floyd, but as he is listed in the case cited at the top of the page.Re: State of Texas v. FLOYD, GEORGE PERRYCause 097658901010Harris County, 185th District CourtDear FLOYD, GEORGE PERRY,Based on a review of criminal cases filed in Harris County, Texas, it appears that former Houston Police Department Officer Gerald Goines may have been involved in the above-referenced case which resulted in your conviction. Please be informed that Officer Goines has been relieved of duty and is currently under criminal investigation. This notice is provided solely for the purpose of forwarding to you information of which this office has become aware. This office makes no representations regarding relevance or materiality of this information to your case.Goines had been the one and only witness when he arrested Floyd back on Feb. 5, 2004, for supposedly providing him with less than a gram of cocaine. The prosecutor originally offered Floyd two years in prison if he pleaded guilty. Floyd balked, but finally agreed when the offer was reduced to 10 months.Had he gone to trial, he would have faced serious time. And, as in any case based solely on the word of the arresting officer, it would have come down to whom the jury was going to believe: He said, Cop said.Goines' veracity in general was called into question after he was arrested last year. He was alleged to have cited a fictitious informant in securing a search warrant for a house where there was supposed drug dealing. The ensuing raid resulted in Dennis Tuttle and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, being shot to death by police, who also killed their dog. No drugs were found. The couple seems to have been wholly innocent.Goines was charged with murder last August on the grounds that the raid and therefore the deaths would never have occurred without the search warrant. The Harris County district attorney subsequently sought to overturn 73 cases in which Goines was the only person who witnessed the supposed transaction. That included the case against Floyd, who subsequently went from encountering one of the very worst cops in Houston to encountering one of the very worst cops in Minneapolis. The whole world watched Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneel on Floyd's neck until he died. Chauvin now also faces murder charges.The Houston case was just another minor drug bust, whereas the Minneapolis case sparked the ongoing protests that have rocked the nation. But the difference in magnitude as well as locale makes it important to consider both cases at once. We are reminded that police misconduct is not confined to one city and occurs not just in extreme circumstances recorded by cellphones, but also in routine cases noticed only by those who suffer the immediate consequences. Floyd's attorney in the 2004 bust, James Brooks, has since died of cancer. Neither he nor Floyd is able to report particulars of the case beyond what is in the public case file. Nor were they around on June 5 to hear Ogg note on a Houston TV news show that Floyd had run into a nightmare officer in Houston as well as in Minneapolis. "One of those horrible coincidences which I would say are not just a coincidence but a product of a systemic problem," Ogg said. She described Floyd as "one of Goines' victims." Her office has determined there are 91 people who were convicted as the result of search warrants where Goines was the affiant. That brings the total to 164."Anybody who was wrongly convicted by Gerald Goines or any other officers in the squad need to have their names cleared," Ogg said.That prominently includes Floyd, even after his life was ended by that other monster cop in Minneapolis."He would have been entitled to relief, and posthumously we can't necessarily grant that, but I'm going to see what we can do," she said.Ogg could not be reached for further comment on Tuesday."The district attorney is not available," a spokesperson said. "She is attending Mr. Floyd's funeral."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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| Iran sentencing an alleged CIA source to death for the Soleimani assassination has reminded US allies of a constant worry: Media leaks can get their people killed. Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:15 AM PDT  Many allies of the US were unsettled by the level of detail made public about how Qassem Soleimani was killed in January 2020.
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| Protesters tear down Christopher Columbus statue in Saint Paul, Minnesota Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:42 PM PDT  A group of protesters pulled down a statue of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday, the latest U.S. monument to be torn down amid nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racial inequalities. The 10-foot bronze statue was pulled from its granite base by several dozen people led by a Minnesota-based Native American activist outside the state Capitol, documented by news photographers and television camera operators. "It was the right thing to do and it was the right time to do it," the activist, Mike Forcia, told Reuters in apparent reference to more than two weeks of protests over the May 25 death of a 46-year-old black man, George Floyd, under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.
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| Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie called out by opponent for displaying Confederate battle flag at home Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:06 PM PDT  U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie's staff did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails seeking comment on whether the flag is still hanging.
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| Tehran will execute an Iranian for spying for the United States and Israel Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:29 AM PDT  Tehran said Tuesday it will execute an Iranian for spying for the United States and Israel after his conviction was upheld for helping the U.S. to locate a top Iranian general killed in a drone strike in January.
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| Human remains found in search for two missing Idaho kids; stepfather Chad Daybell taken into custody Posted: 09 Jun 2020 08:11 PM PDT  Chad Daybell's home was searched Tuesday in relation to the investigation into Lori Vallow's two missing children.
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| Biden says military would intervene if Trump loses election but refuses to leave Posted: 11 Jun 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he worries President Donald Trump will try to "steal" the November election but he is confident soldiers would escort Trump from the White House if he loses and doesn't recognize the result. "It's my greatest concern, my single greatest concern: This president is going to try to steal this election," Biden said in an interview broadcast late on Wednesday on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." Biden did not specify how he thought Trump, a Republican, might cheat.
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| New data suggest Russia may have a lot more COVID deaths than it says Posted: 11 Jun 2020 08:19 AM PDT  Government data show Moscow had thousands more coronavirus-linked deaths than officially counted, as WHO calls Russia's numbers "difficult to understand."
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| Hundreds of thousands displaced in deadly China flooding Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:14 AM PDT  Flooding in south and central China has caused more than a dozen deaths and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, the government said Wednesday. Seasonal flooding generally causes heavy damage each year in the lower regions of China's major river systems, particularly those of the Yangtze and the Pearl to the south. Authorities have sought to mitigate the hardship through the use of dams, particularly the massive Three Gorges structure on the Yangtze.
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| Coronavirus Hospitalizations Spike in Nine States following Memorial Day Weekend Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:15 AM PDT  Hospitalizations from coronavirus rose sharply in at least nine U.S. states following Memorial Day weekend.Seven-day average cases of coronavirus have risen across the country in a trend not attributable solely to an increase in testing, the Washington Post has found. While coronavirus hospitalizations are difficult to track because of differences in how states report data, the nine states in which hospitalizations have clearly risen are Texas, California, Oregon, North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Utah, Arkansas, and Arizona.Texas has seen a 36 percent increase in new cases since Memorial Day, with coronavirus hospitalizations at a record high of 2,056 as of Tuesday. There were 1,935 hospitalizations in the state on Monday.Arizona reported a 49 percent increase in hospitalizations, from 833 on Memorial Day to 1,243 by Tuesday. At the same time, 76 percent of the state's ICU beds were occupied. Other states that have seen an increase in coronavirus cases, including Arkansas, reported that ICU's were still operating below full capacity.States have been steadily moving to reopen businesses and tourist sites initially closed to prevent coronavirus spread, with Texas lifting restrictions in early May. Cities throughout the U.S. have also seen massive demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by police officers, in which protesters have not adhered to social-distancing guidelines.However, in certain instances large gatherings of people do not seem to have caused a spike in coronavirus cases. For example, Memorial Day parties at Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks, in which hundreds of revelers were photographed in close proximity, have not led to any new coronavirus outbreaks.
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| A customer is suing Apple for $1 trillion over claims that the company stole his iPhone after he brought it in for a repair Posted: 11 Jun 2020 06:45 AM PDT  A Missouri customer is claiming Apple stole his iPhone when he brought it in for repair and provided him with a replacement.
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| Stacey Abrams Repeatedly Shuts Down Meghan McCain on ‘The View’ Posted: 11 Jun 2020 09:35 AM PDT  On Monday, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) went on The View and promptly schooled Meghan McCain on the real meaning of "defund the police." This morning, it was Stacey Abrams' turn. Abrams, who was promoting her latest book Our Time Is Now, spoke out against the voting disaster this week in her home state of Georgia. After Abrams blamed the Republican secretary of state for showing a "deliberate indifference to the needs of Georgia voters," McCain tried to spin the situation on the ground in a different way."There's a lot of finger pointing going on, and you seem to be implying it was Georgia's secretary of state who was targeting communities of color," McCain said. "But most of the counties that had issues this week were run by Democrats. Do you think we should be quick to blame Republicans when most of the problems like consolidated polling locations and older poll workers canceling over health concerns were a result of the coronavirus?" "So I want to decouple a couple of things," Abrams began. She calmly explained to McCain that in the state of Georgia, the secretary of state is in charge of elections, something she knows well from running for governor against former secretary of state Brian Kemp, who refused to recuse himself during his own election. "We allow counties to do the direct implementation, but it's the responsibility of the secretary of state to make sure they know how to do it and that they have the resources to get it done." Abrams went on to call out the "false narrative that the secretary of state has pushed out this is only happening because of Democratic leadership," telling McCain, "This affected every single part of our state, and the reality is your access to democracy shouldn't depend on your county of residence." She added: "Fundamentally we deserve to have elections that work for everyone." Fox News Hits Stacey Abrams for Calling Out RacismLater in the show, when it was McCain's turn to ask Abrams another question, she brought up recent comments she made suggesting that the United States is in the "early stages" of an authoritarian regime and comparing the Trump administration to Erdoğan's Turkish regime—comments made on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, of all places.Given that Erdoğan is a "horrific, murderous dictator," McCain wanted to know, "Do you really think it's fair to call the United States no better than Turkey?""I didn't call it no better than Turkey," Abrams shot back. "I said that we're on the path to populist authoritarianism." After explaining that Erdoğan was a democratically elected president who "over time diminished the utility of the courts by packing it with people who supported him, he eliminated the voices of those who were supposed to be the independent guardrails on democracy and he used that power to call for militarization of their public institutions," Abrams said, "We are seeing evidence of that in the United States.""Now I'm not comparing apples to oranges, but I'm saying they are all fruit of the same poisonous tree," Abrams continued. "And we need to take steps now to ensure that our presidency is not a gateway to the types of authoritarian regimes we've seen in Turkey, that we've seen pop up in Hungary, what we're seeing in India, and what Jair Bolsonaro is trying to do in Brazil.""We have to acknowledge the authoritarian nature of Donald Trump," Abrams concluded. "And we've got to nip it in the bud if we want democracy to continue here and if we want to continue to be the moral leader abroad." There wasn't much McCain could say to that. Kamala Harris Schools Meghan McCain on 'Defund the Police'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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| The human remains found in doomsday author Chad Daybell's yard belong to his missing stepchildren, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, their family says Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:35 AM PDT  JJ Vallow, 7, and his sister Tylee Ryan, 17, were last seen in September. Their mother, Lori Vallow, was arrested in February.
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| Trump news – live: White House defends president's conspiracy theory about protester thrown to ground by police Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:37 AM PDT  Republican senators on Capitol Hill have expressed their dismay at a Donald Trump tweet accusing 75-year-old Black Lives Matter protester Martin Gugino of being an "ANTIFA provocateur" and dismissing the viral video in which he is seen being shoved over by police at a George Floyd demonstration in Buffalo, New York, as "a set up"."It's a serious accusation which should only be made with facts and evidence", commented John Thune of South Dakota, as Utah's Mitt Romney branded the speculation from the president "shocking" and Alaska moderate Lisa Murkowski observed: "It just makes no sense that we're fanning the flames right at this time."
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| South Korean doctors find risk factors for severe COVID-19 cases Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:05 PM PDT  South Korean doctors have found certain underlying conditions that may make some COVID-19 patients more severely affected by the disease, a professor at Yeungnam University Medical Center said on Wednesday. The findings could help doctors identify and prioritise high-risk patients at an early stage of the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Ahn June-hong, professor of internal medicine, told Reuters. Medical experts and epidemiologists are investigating risk factors for patients who develop severe cases of the disease, which has killed more than 400,000 globally since it first emerged late last year in China.
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| Biden still wants to increase funding for police departments by $300 million to 'reinvigorate community policing' Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:03 AM PDT  "Nothing about this fight will be easy. Institutions resist change. Racism has been a fixture in our society for hundreds of years," Biden wrote.
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| Ethiopia seeks to limit outsiders' role in Nile dam talks Posted: 11 Jun 2020 02:45 AM PDT  Ethiopia said Thursday it wants to limit the role of outside parties in revived talks over its Nile River mega-dam, a sign of lingering frustration over a failed attempt by the US to broker a deal earlier this year. The Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam has been a source of tension in the Nile River basin ever since Ethiopia broke ground on it nearly a decade ago. Ethiopia sees the dam as essential for its electrification and development, while Sudan and Egypt see it as a threat to essential water supplies.
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| An abridged history of the Trump administration defending baseless claims Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:43 AM PDT  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday sought to defend the president's baseless claim that a 75-year-old man who was seen knocked to the ground by police in Buffalo, N.Y., last week during a protest over George Floyd's death was a member of antifa and that the incident was "a setup." Watch an abridged history of instances of President Trump and his administration attempting to use a similar defense.
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| Kill the Carrier: The DF-100 Anti-Ship Missile Is Crucial To China's Pacific Plans Posted: 09 Jun 2020 04:00 PM PDT  America's carriers are at risk.
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| Syria's Assad fires his PM amid worsening economic crisis Posted: 11 Jun 2020 06:49 AM PDT  Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday fired his prime minister, a month ahead of elections and as the economic crisis worsens and public anger rises in the territory under his control. Assad also appointed the current public works and housing minister to replace Imad Khamis, who had been the premier since 2016. The Syrian president asked Hussein Arnous to replace Khamis as interim premier until parliament elections are held in July and a new government comes in.
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| Police: Human remains found at Idaho property of Lori Vallow's husband Chad Daybell Posted: 09 Jun 2020 07:44 PM PDT  Authorities said they uncovered human remains at an Idaho man's home Tuesday as they investigated the disappearance of his new wife's two children.
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| Japan wants to take lead for G7 statement on Hong Kong: Abe Posted: 09 Jun 2020 06:10 PM PDT  Japan wants to take the lead among Group of Seven nations on issuing a statement about the situation in Hong Kong, where China is imposing a new security law, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday. "Obviously, we acknowledge the G7 has a mission to lead the global public opinion and Japan wants to take a lead in issuing a statement based on 'one nation, two systems' in Hong Kong," Abe told parliament.
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| Turkey passes controversial 'nightwatchmen' bill Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:14 PM PDT  Turkey's parliament passed a controversial bill on Wednesday giving neighbourhood patrols greater powers, with critics accusing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of wanting to build a loyal "militia". With more than 28,000 members, the nightwatchmen institution -- which is attached to the interior ministry and dates back more than 100 years -- has grown considerably after an attempted coup in July 2016 against Erdogan. Erdogan's AKP party, which put forward the bill, says the new rules will enable the nightwatchmen to more effectively help law enforcement by thwarting burglaries and preventing assaults on the streets.
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| North Korea warns US: Stay out of our affairs if you want a 'smooth election' Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:54 PM PDT  North Korea rebuked Washington on Thursday for criticising its decision to cut communication links with Seoul, warning it to stay out of inter-Korean affairs if it wanted to ensure a smooth presidential election. In a statement carried by the KCNA news agency, a senior North Korean foreign ministry official slammed the "double-dealing attitudes" of the United States as "disgusting". Washington should "hold its tongue and mind its internal affairs first", said Kwon Jong-gun, director-general of the Department of US Affairs, if it wanted to avoid experiencing a "hair-raiser" and ensure the "easy holding" of November's presidential vote. The implicit threat comes just a day before the two-year anniversary of the landmark summit in Singapore where Kim Jong-un shook hands with Donald Trump, becoming the first North Korean leader to meet a sitting US president. Negotiations over the North's nuclear programme have been deadlocked since the collapse of a second Trump-Kim meeting in Hanoi last year over what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.
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| Racism definition: Merriam-Webster to make update after request Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:01 AM PDT  Editors of the dictionary made the decision after receiving an email from a young black woman.
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| Step Inside the Colorful Milan Home Posted: 11 Jun 2020 05:00 AM PDT |
| Satellite images and internet trends suggest the coronavirus may have emerged months before China reported it: 'Something was happening in October' Posted: 09 Jun 2020 03:41 PM PDT  Traffic at six major Wuhan hospitals rose alongside searches for "cough" and "diarrhea" in fall 2019.
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| Los Angeles police officer accused of repeatedly punching man is charged Posted: 09 Jun 2020 08:09 PM PDT  Video shows a police officer repeatedly punching a man in April. The district attorney called the use of force illegal.
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| Australian PM draws criticism for 'no slavery in Australia' comment Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:33 PM PDT  Australian officials warned Black Lives Matter supporters they could be arrested if they breach coronavirus restrictions to take part in public protests, as debate erupted over the country's own indigenous history. Prime Minister Scott Morrison drew strong criticism on Thursday after he said "there was no slavery in Australia" during a discussion of the early days of British settlement, which he acknowledged was "pretty brutal." "Slavery of indigenous, men, women and children is well documented," said Sharman Stone, a former federal lawmaker and now politics professor at Monash University.
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| ‘They Folded Like House of Cards’: McConnell Mocks NYT for Caving to Critics of Tom Cotton’s Op-ed Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:31 AM PDT  Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday accused the New York Times of lying about the substance of Senator Tom Cotton's controversial op-ed for which the paper later apologized after an outcry from readers and Times journalists.During a floor speech, McConnell mocked the Times for bowing to criticism of the paper's decision to publish Cotton's opinion op-ed, titled "Send in the Troops," which called for military intervention to quell the rioting across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd."One of our nation's most storied newspapers just had its intellectual independence challenged by an angry mob, and they folded like a house of cards," McConnell said from the Senate floor. "A jury of people on Twitter indicted them as accessories to a thought crime and instead of telling them to go take a hike, the paper pleaded guilty and begged for mercy."After the column's publication, several Times staffers tweeted that, "running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger." The backlash eventually resulted in the resignation of James Bennet, the Times editorial page editor, on Sunday.The Times has since added a lengthy note editor's note to the op-ed saying that "the essay fell short of our standards and should not have been published." While Cotton's "basic arguments" represent a "newsworthy part of the current debate," the note reads, the "life-and-death importance of the topic" and the Arkansas Republican's "influential position" warranted further substantial revisions." Editors also lamented the "needlessly harsh" tone of the essay and singled out several claims Cotton makes which they said should have been fact-checked.Cotton wrote that "nihilist criminals are simply out for loot and the thrill of destruction, with cadres of left-wing radicals like antifa infiltrating protest marches to exploit Floyd's death for their own anarchic purposes." The Times's editor's note takes issue with those assertions, saying Cotton's claims are unsubstantiated and have been "widely questioned."McConnell acknowledged that Cotton's view was "controversial" but said it remains a "legitimate" one.Afterwards, the Times "began lying about what Senator Cotton had said," saying he had "called for a crackdown on peaceful protests when he had specifically distinguished them from violent rioters," McConnell said.McConnell noted that in the past, the Times has published op-eds from Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Iranian foreign minister, and a leader of the Muslim brotherhood."Presumably it was understood that pushing the envelope and airing disagreements are necessary in a free market of ideas," the Kentucky Republican said. "But one week ago, the Gray Lady finally met her match. Vladimir Putin? No problem. Iranian propaganda? Sure. But nothing, nothing could have prepared them for 800 words from the junior senator from Arkansas.""The New York Times had erred grievously by making people confront a different viewpoint," McConnell said mockingly. "It hurt their feelings by making them confront a different point of view."
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| Russia welcomes prospect of US troop pullback from Germany Posted: 11 Jun 2020 07:50 AM PDT  Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday welcomed President Donald Trump's reported plan to withdraw more than a quarter of U.S. troops from Germany, saying it would help bolster security in Europe. Trump has reportedly signed off on a plan to cut the number of troops stationed in Germany from 34,500 to no more than 25,000. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that "we would welcome any steps by Washington to scale down its military presence in Europe."
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| Mnuchin considering additional direct payments in next coronavirus aid bill Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:41 PM PDT  U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday he would consider more direct payments to individuals in the next phase of coronavirus rescue legislation. He added that funds should also be targeted to help sectors that are struggling to reopen, including hospitality and tourism.
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| 'Only African American in the Room:' Next Air Force Chief of Staff Speaks Out on Racism in Ranks Posted: 09 Jun 2020 12:28 PM PDT  Brown described his experience as "living in two worlds," with some questioning whether he even belonged in the ranks.
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| Amazon exec slams 'shocking' arrest of Black delivery driver who was pinned to the ground during a traffic stop Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:31 AM PDT  A top Amazon executive shared a video that appeared to show a white police officer restraining a Black driver who was facedown on the ground.
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| Could Iran Test a Nuclear Bomb Within a Year? Posted: 10 Jun 2020 04:37 AM PDT  "Iran could test a nuclear weapon in the desert within a year now," said former IAEA inspector David Albright, founder of the Institute for Science and International Security, at a conference call hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "I think it would take them longer to have a missile deliverable nuclear warhead, but often countries don't do that first."
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