| Video shows Black man pinned to tree in what he calls 'attempted lynching' at Indiana lake Posted: 06 Jul 2020 03:22 PM PDT  Indiana authorities are investigating a report by a Black man who said he was pinned to a tree by a group of white men, an attack he likened to an "attempted lynching."
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| White House defends Trump's claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are 'harmless' with chart showing 5 percent are fatal Posted: 06 Jul 2020 12:17 PM PDT  Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany came to her press briefing on Monday prepared to defend President Trump's assertion that "99 percent" of U.S. coronavirus cases are "totally harmless" with two charts that inadvertently disproved his claim.
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| Nearly 1,000 inmates will be removed from San Quentin prison after its infection rate has gotten so bad it's been dubbed 'the Chernobyl of COVID' Posted: 07 Jul 2020 12:43 AM PDT  Infectious disease specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong told NBC Bay Area: "That tower is burning and it's really unsafe to get in their right now."
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| Why "all lives matter" communicates to Black people that their lives don't Posted: 08 Jul 2020 06:37 AM PDT  To many White people, "all lives matter" seems like a harmless, inclusive remark. For the Black community, however, it's anything but.
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| Exonerated Central Park Five members speak out: ‘Not too many things have changed since 30 years ago’ Posted: 06 Jul 2020 02:20 PM PDT  In 1989, five Black and Hispanic teens were falsely accused of raping and nearly killing Trisha Meili, a white woman jogging in Central Park. Known collectively as the Central Park Five, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise were convicted in two trials despite a lack of eyewitness testimony or DNA evidence and spent between six and 13 years in prison. Exonerated in 2002 after an investigation confirmed that a convicted murderer and rapist had committed the crime, the Central Park Five sued the city and state of New York, settling for millions.
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| The Supreme Court Just Pointed Out the Absurdity of the Electoral College. It's Up to Us to End It Posted: 07 Jul 2020 08:00 AM PDT  The Electoral College is a terrible idea. And thanks to the Supreme Court's decision this week, getting rid of it has never been easier.
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| Don't count on ever seeing Trump's 'Garden of American Heroes' Posted: 06 Jul 2020 11:49 AM PDT  Call me cynical, but I have a feeling the National Garden of American Heroes announced by President Trump on Friday will never get off — or into — the ground, even if he doesn't put his son-in-law in charge of it. Establishing an official United States Hall of Fame will secure the reputations of Betsy Ross and Benjamin Franklin from the changing political winds, no less than the one in Cooperstown, N.Y., preserves for the ages the memories of Ted Williams and Roberto Clemente.
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| How the US caught flashy Nigerian Instagrammers 'with $40m' Posted: 08 Jul 2020 04:05 AM PDT  Dubai has extradited "mrwoodbery" and "hushpuppi" to the US to face cyber fraud charges.
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| Black Lives Matter protesters face rare leak charge in Iowa Posted: 07 Jul 2020 01:00 PM PDT  Prosecutors in Iowa have filed a rarely used leak charge against Black Lives Matter protesters accused of stealing a confidential police document and displaying it during a television news broadcast. Two protesters are charged with unauthorized dissemination of intelligence data, a felony that carries up to five years in prison. The Iowa Judicial Branch says it's only the second time that the charge has been filed since 2010.
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| A former National Guard colonel apologized but will keep her professor job after saying sexual harassment is the 'price of admission for women' in the military Posted: 06 Jul 2020 01:16 PM PDT  Betsy Schoeller said her Facebook comment about Vanessa Guillén was intended to provide a "voice" to the "culture of sexual harassment" women face.
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| Former India navy officer refuses to appeal spying death sentence Posted: 08 Jul 2020 06:56 AM PDT  A former Indian naval officer on death row in Pakistan for alleged spying has refused to lodge an appeal against his conviction, an official said Wednesday, and will try for a military pardon instead. Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in 2016 in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Balochistan -- a region where Islamabad has long accused New Delhi of backing separatist rebels.
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| New law would require NYPD police to take out individual insurance to cover misconduct claims Posted: 07 Jul 2020 10:55 AM PDT  A new bill introduced by a US lawmaker would require police officers to take out personal liability insurance to cover civil lawsuits filed against them for misconduct, reports have said.The new law, introduced by Senator Alessandra Biaggi, would mean that police are no longer represented by the city law department, according to a report by The New York Post.
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| Michigan drivers met with startling billboard message: 'Driving while Black? Racial profiling just ahead' Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:09 AM PDT  "Driving while Black? Racial profiling just ahead. Welcome to Livonia," the billboard reads. The town's mayor called the sign "counterproductive."
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| U.S. colleges scramble after new Trump order on foreign students Posted: 07 Jul 2020 04:43 PM PDT  Many U.S. colleges were scrambling on Tuesday to modify plans for the fall semester in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic a day after the Trump administration issued an order that could force tens of thousands of foreign students to leave the country if their schools hold all classes online. The announcement blindsided academic institutions grappling with the logistical challenges of safely resuming classes, particularly after the federal government had granted exceptions to the rules limiting online learning for foreign students when colleges and universities in March rushed to shutter campuses and move to online classes as the pandemic forced lockdowns. There are more than a million foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities, and many schools depend on revenue from foreign students, who often pay full tuition.
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| BMW wants customers to pay a subscription fee to use features the car already has installed, like a heated steering wheel or adaptive cruise control Posted: 07 Jul 2020 01:03 PM PDT  BMW's new setup is similar to Tesla's, which famously offers over-the-air updates for customers long after purchase.
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| Kashmir’s media survived blackout – but warn of shrinking freedoms Posted: 07 Jul 2020 02:04 PM PDT |
| 'More than one million' died of snake bites in India Posted: 08 Jul 2020 02:26 AM PDT  There are at least 15 species of snakes in India responsible for human deaths.
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| Mom kidnaps daughter and flies to Mexico to give Russia US defense secrets, feds say Posted: 07 Jul 2020 10:39 AM PDT  The woman was trying to make contact with Russian government officials "to request resettlement in a country that would not extradite her to the United States," prosecutors said.
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| Atlanta Mayor: No need for troops, despite governor's order Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:02 AM PDT  The mayor of Atlanta said Tuesday that she doesn't agree with the Georgia governor's order to mobilize the National Guard in her city as a surge in violence became a political talking point. Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Monday and authorized activation of up to 1,000 Guard troops after a weekend of gun violence in Atlanta left five people dead, including Secoriea Turner, an 8-year-old girl. Atlanta Police Lt. Pete Malecki said the video comes from a surveillance camera near where Secoriea was shot while riding in the back seat of an SUV.
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| US killing of Iran's top general 'unlawful': UN expert Posted: 07 Jul 2020 04:55 AM PDT  The US drone strike that killed Iran's top general Qasem Soleimani was "unlawful", the United Nations expert on extrajudicial killings concluded in a report released Tuesday. Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, concluded it was an "arbitrary killing" that violated the UN charter. The US had provided no evidence that an imminent attack against US interest was being planned, she wrote.
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| Fauci says the emphasis on a lower coronavirus death rate, often touted by Trump, promotes a 'false narrative' Posted: 07 Jul 2020 08:05 PM PDT  "There's so many other things that are very dangerous and very bad about this virus," Fauci said. "Don't get yourself into false complacency."
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| Amid Black Lives Matter protests, more school districts are pushing to address racism. Is it enough? Posted: 07 Jul 2020 04:07 PM PDT  School districts say they want to be more proactive in battling systemic racism, from hiring diverse teachers to desegregating schools. Is it enough?
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| U.S. says Carlos Ghosn wired money to man who helped him flee Japan Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:38 PM PDT  The disclosure came less than a day after the men, Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor, who are trying to avoid extradition to Japan in connection with Ghosn's escape, petitioned a U.S. judge to release them on bail. Lawyers for the Taylors said they have been held for more than six weeks at the Norfolk County Correctional Center in Massachusetts, where 36 inmates and staff have tested positive for COVID-19, based on flawed arrest warrants and extradition requests.
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| Coronavirus: How fast is it spreading in Africa? Posted: 08 Jul 2020 07:37 AM PDT  There are fears that the number of cases is growing rapidly, so what are the key trends?
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| McEnany defends Trump’s tweet about Bubba Wallace and Confederate flag Posted: 06 Jul 2020 12:32 PM PDT  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked on Monday about the president's tweet saying NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace should have apologized for his handling of an incident in which a noose-like rope appeared in his garage.
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| Flooding kills 2, disrupts entrance exams in southern China Posted: 07 Jul 2020 01:57 AM PDT  Severe flooding and heavy rains have killed at least two people in southern China and disrupted the first day of widely anticipated college entrance exams being held one month late because of the coronavirus. Anhui and neighboring Hubei province, the epicenter of the pandemic in China, appeared to be the hardest hit by the rain. Nearly 30,000 people were evacuated in Hubei's Huanggang city after water started seeping from a reservoir, the China News Service reported.
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| ‘I have nothing to fear.’ Puerto Rico governor denies allegations from fired justice official Posted: 07 Jul 2020 05:38 PM PDT  Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez denied allegations Tuesday that she fired the island's secretary of justice amid claims that Vázquez mishandled aid for victims of ongoing earthquakes that have struck the island since last December.
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| 'Sickening': Biden defends Duckworth after Trump camp, Tucker Carlson question her patriotism Posted: 08 Jul 2020 04:59 AM PDT  The former VP said the attacks demonstrate the "depravity of what's going on in the White House right now."
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| Librarians and other public employees in Phoenix are being asked to help with coronavirus testing because the city doesn't have a health department Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:48 PM PDT  "I also would really ask that every level of government help the city of Phoenix with testing," Mayor Kate Gallego told NPR.
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| Scientists Discover Tiny Dinosaur Relative Posted: 06 Jul 2020 02:37 PM PDT  Scientists report the discovery of a "shockingly small" predecessor to dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
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| Germany lambasts 'shameful' handling of migration by EU Posted: 07 Jul 2020 06:13 AM PDT  It is "shameful" that the European Union has still not found a solution for the care of asylum seekers five years after the migration crisis, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, whose country holds the EU Presidency, said Tuesday. "Each boat requires painstaking efforts to achieve a distribution (of migrants) among member states," said Seehofer. Seehofer is counting on persuasion to get more member states involved, but acknowledged that the task was "very, very difficult".
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| Mexico finds remains of another missing student, attacks 'false' history of events Posted: 07 Jul 2020 12:28 PM PDT  Investigators have found a bone fragment belonging to one of 43 students who disappeared in Mexico in September 2014, prosecutors said on Tuesday, only the second set of remains to be definitively identified in a case that roiled the country. The abduction and apparent massacre of 43 student teachers from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College became a symbol of Mexico's chronic failure to tackle gang violence and corruption. When President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office 19 months ago, he pledged to shed light on the crime after the last government's conclusions about the case were widely criticized.
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| Missouri kid camp virus outbreak raises questions of safety Posted: 07 Jul 2020 02:34 PM PDT  Missouri leaders knew the risk of convening thousands of kids at summer camps across the state during a pandemic, the state's top health official said, and insisted that camp organizers have plans in place to keep an outbreak from happening. An overnight summer camp in rural southwestern Missouri has seen scores of campers, counselors and staff infected, the local health department revealed this week, raising questions about the ability to keep kids safe at what is a rite of childhood for many. Missouri is one of several states to report outbreaks at summer camps.
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| Destroy the ‘Public’ Education System Posted: 07 Jul 2020 03:30 AM PDT  'Public" schools have been a catastrophe for the United States. This certainly isn't an original assertion, but as we watch thousands of authoritarian brats tearing down the legacies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, it's more apparent than ever.State-run schools have undercut two fundamental conditions of a healthy tolerant society. First, they've created millions of civic illiterates who are disconnected from long-held communal values and national identity. Second, they've exacerbated the very inequalities that trigger the tearing apart of fissures.If you're interested in ferreting out "systemic racism," go to a big-city public-school system. No institution has fought harder to preserve segregated communities than the average teachers' union. And I don't mean only in the schools.Prosperous Americans already enjoy school choice -- and not merely because they can afford private schools. Anyone who has ever tried to buy a suburban home in a major metro area can tell you how acutely school districts influence home prices. Many middle-class and working-class families are priced out of areas with good schools because of inflated home values and high property taxes. And families who might otherwise choose to live in more diverse areas are kept out because of failing schools.This entire dynamic is driven by the antiquated notion that the best way to educate kids is to throw them into the nearest government building. It's the teachers' unions that safeguard these fiefdoms through racketeering schemes: First they funnel taxpayer dollars to the political campaigns of allies who, when elected, return the favor by protecting union monopolies and supporting higher taxes that fund unions and ultimately political campaigns. So goes the cycle, decade after decade, one failed student after the next.Even in cities where limited choice exists, most poor parents, typically black or Hispanic, are compelled to send their kids to inferior schools, even if there are better-suited schools within walking distance. More than a decade ago, I sat in a Denver auditorium with a single Hispanic mom who was, quite literally, praying that her kid's number would be picked in a charter-school lottery. The mother wept as her number was passed over, not because she was a partisan reactionary -- she didn't care about politics -- but because she knew her son would now be forced to attend a subpar and unsafe high school rather than one specifically designed to help first-generation kids assimilate.It was a heartbreaking scene. And it's only gotten worse. Colorado has since become a blue state, and Democrats have killed or obstructed numerous school-choice initiatives once supported by moderates in their party. In Denver, schools systems have helped solidify segregated communities, and the achievement gap between white and minority students is one of the worst in the country.Nevertheless, Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden says he'll create not a child-oriented Department of Education but a "teacher-oriented Department of Education." By teachers, Biden means unions. Teachers unions spent $30 million on federal elections alone in 2016 -- virtually all of it on Democrats. It's about more than the money they give, however. Unions organize, campaign, and march for liberal causes. As a Washington Post piece ("Teachers' unions may not raise pay — but they do bolster the Democratic Party") aptly put it not long ago:> But teachers' unions do accomplish something politically notable: They are a vital part of liberal coalitions and the Democratic Party. Teachers' union organization and mobilization, like that of other government workers' unions, have long compensated for the declining membership in traditional organized labor. What's more, they've advanced the causes of women's and LGBTQ rights — rights that are important to many or most of their members. They've done that by delivering money, mobilization and organization to both the Democratic Party and to feminist groups.It's likely that left-wing ideologues run your school district. They decide what your children learn. They are the ones who decide that your kid can protest the Second Amendment of the Constitution, but never, not in a million years, march for any cause the Founders might have championed.Anecdotally speaking, I can confirm that the teaching of American history in at least one D.C. suburb -- perhaps a better way to put it would be the un-teaching of American history -- is detestable. Most events are couched in relativism; or, worse, the textbooks accentuate every sin and downplay every accomplishment. It would be one thing if this kind of ideological shading were relegated to history class, but it has infected plenty of other things.If you have no interest in funding campaigns for "women's and LGBTQ rights" (euphemisms for pro-abortion and anti-religious-liberty causes), well, that's too bad. If you can't homeschool your kid or send her to a pricey private school, you lose.The embedded left-wing nature of big school districts is so normalized that parents rarely say a word. Mom and Dad can buy virtually anything from anywhere in the world, but they can't use their tax dollars to buy Timmy an education that aligns with their values.It was one thing when these schools were producing mere Democrats, and it's quite another now that they're churning out hordes of chillingly ignorant voters.A recent study found that 60 percent of Americans couldn't pass a U.S. Citizenship Test. It comes as no surprise that those 65 or older scored the best, with 74 percent correctly answering at least six out of ten questions. Of those 45 and younger, only 19 percent passed the exam -- and the younger the test-takers, the less likely they were to pass. Sixty percent of those tested didn't know which countries their grandparents fought during World War II. And only 24 percent knew why Americans colonists had fought the British.Now, I'm under no illusion that higher education is the sole driver of common sense and patriotism -- intellectuals are susceptible to some the dumbest ideas ever conceived-– but if state-run schools can't even teach the Founding, how are we going to move forward as a nation?Some pundits point out that elite private schools have even worse problems with progressivism than the average public schools. That's probably true -- and also largely irrelevant. But a voucher system creates opportunities for all kinds of students, not just wealthy ones. It stands to reason, when one considers virtually every other marketplace in existence, that competition in education would generate a diverse array of schools offering an array of teaching methods and cultures to meet the needs of consumers. It would also pressure traditional public schools to do a better job retaining students.There is no panacea. School choice won't instantaneously fix our problems. Yet without closing the gap in educational achievement, it seems unlikely we're going to fix inequality. Without fixing the corrosion of civic education, it's unlikely that American liberalism is going to survive. We can't fix either problem without smashing "public education" as it exists. It might already be too late.
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| A table for four in a parking spot? Miami restaurants scramble before COVID-19 shutdown Posted: 07 Jul 2020 03:59 PM PDT  The foreseeable future of dining out in Miami-Dade County — come heat, humidity or hurricanes — is outside.
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| The 'silent majority' is speaking on coronavirus and Trump is on the other side Posted: 07 Jul 2020 06:02 AM PDT  First Read is your briefing from "Meet the Press" and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.
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| 8 of Atlantic City's famous casinos just reopened for the first time since March. These photos show just how different the casino experience is going to be after the pandemic. Posted: 06 Jul 2020 11:19 AM PDT  From masked models to plexiglass barriers, photos show what Atlantic City's casinos looked like on the weekend they reopened to the public.
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| Line in the sand crossed as Zimbabwe reaches a deal with evicted white farmers Posted: 07 Jul 2020 10:09 AM PDT  Zimbabwe has agreed to pay nearly £3bn in compensation to white farmers who had their land taken from them nearly two decades ago in a significant new agreement. After ten years of politically charged negotiations, on Monday an agreement was finally struck. The Zimbabwean government agreed to pay about 50 per cent of the value of the capital assets such as buildings, livestock and machinery on their farms, which amounts to some £2.8 billion spread out between 3,200 evicted farmers. The agreement is expected to be signed within weeks, but it is being treated with caution. Zimbabwe is bankrupt and is suffering from high inflation rates and food shortages. The government in Harare is currently unable to get international loans, or import enough fuel for its population. Zimbabwe's white farmers were successful, and their productivity formed the bedrock of the southern Africa nation's economy. However, their success was grounded in racialised system of land ownership. Prior to the independence of Rhodesia in 1980, black Africans could not buy land in areas set aside for white people. Twenty years ago they were violently chased off their farms by government supporters, and several farmers and some of their workers were killed and their homes torched in brutal raids. Over the next five years, nearly all productive white-owned farms were invaded and often destroyed., with much of that old land still unused to this day. Notably, the deal does not include any compensation for the value of the land itself. The Zimbabwean government says that Britain must pay evicted white farmers for the land as it was originally taken from locals without payment, mostly by British settlers. A plan is currently being drawn up for a domestic "Land Bank" which would restore title deeds for the land which was nationalised in 2005. "The deal agreed with the government is positive, but I will remain wary of how it is structured," said Doug Taylor-Freeme, a former long-serving president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU). The news comes after the Zimbabwean government agreed to pay about 500 impoverished white farmers still living in Zimbabwe a small amount of money as an advance on their compensation. One farmer who attended the CFU's briefing, which was closed to the media, said: "We don't believe Zimbabwe will ever have money to pay us. But maybe one day my grandchildren will get some of the money."
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| Russia tells US to 'mind own business' over media freedom Posted: 08 Jul 2020 04:45 AM PDT  Moscow has told the US embassy to "mind your own business" after Washington's diplomatic mission raised concern about curbs on media freedom in Russia. Rebecca Ross, the spokeswoman for the US embassy, on Tuesday expressed concern about a clampdown on journalists in Russia. "Watching arrest after arrest of Russian journalists – it's starting to look like a concerted campaign against #MediaFreedom," she tweeted.
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