| Kobach Would Do Anything for Trump. But He Won’t Do That Posted: 04 Aug 2020 06:29 AM PDT  Kris Kobach needs Donald Trump—but his loyalty has limits. As the president has continued to escalate his attacks on mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, Kobach, the former Kansas Secretary of State and early ally of the president, has appeared on television and even written a column supporting Trump's broad targeting of the practice as others try to make the measure more widespread during the health crisis. But in his home state of Kansas, where voting by mail will play a key role in deciding the contentious Republican Senate primary that Kobach currently finds himself in, the GOP lightning rod has avoided leveling similar attacks. Mostly because Kobach's career is tightly intertwined with the state's process. "The mail-in systems of most states are vulnerable to fraud," Kobach said in a statement to The Daily Beast. "But when I was Secretary of State, I made Kansas's voting system the safest in the country with specific attention given to mail-in ballots." That approach from Kobach, coming two years after he narrowly won a GOP primary contest for governor only to be soundly beaten by a Democrat in the general, reminded one of his critics in the state of the same tenor Trump is taking nationally. "I think he's doing the same thing Donald Trump is doing when Donald Trump tries to differentiate mail-in voting versus absentee voting, which are the exact same thing," Democratic State Rep. Brett Parker said. "It's a backdoor way of saying, 'It's ok if you do it if you're voting for me,' but still sort of reserving the right to cry foul if you don't like the election outcome." Kobach is now trying to revive his political career by winning a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas. But his latest run has faced attacks from fellow Republicans, who are hoping that Congressman Roger Marshall (R-KS) will beat Kobach in Tuesday's primary election. Awaiting the GOP nominee in the general election is likely to be Barbara Bollier, a state senator and former Republican who has shown strong fundraising as her party looks to take back control of the Senate.Trump's condemnation of mail-in voting has covered a wide spectrum in the last few months. In April, amid Wisconsin's pandemic primary, Trump leveled the charge that he thought "mail-in voting is horrible. It's corrupt." The key irony at the time, which was called out by a reporter in the room, was that according to The Palm Beach Post, Trump asked for a mail-in ballot for the March Florida primary. Since then, he's threatened federal funding to Michigan over the state sending out absentee ballot applications and tweeted in June that "Because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history—unless this stupidity is ended." Last week, he went as far as to tie "Universal Mail-In Voting" as a reason to consider delaying the election, a move he cannot legally make on his own. As recently as Monday, Trump continued to vent frustrations about mail-in voting. After taking a question from the Trump-friendly One America News Network during a press conference, he said, "Universal mail-in ballots is going to be a great embarrassment to our country," after pointing a New York congressional primary race from June that still doesn't have a clear winner. Trump also claimed he had a right to make some sort of executive order on mail-in voting, but added, "We haven't gotten there yet, but we'll see what happens." Trump: Vote-By-Mail Is Rigged. Trump's Campaign? It's 'Easy And Secure.'In an April Breitbart column, Kobach wrote that "President Trump was absolutely right to highlight the dangers of mail-in voting," but pointed to what he had done in Kansas as the exception to his criticism. Kobach reiterated his stance on Lou Dobbs Tonight, saying that "mandatory mail-in voting" if it came to pass nationwide "would just be horrific." In a statement to The Daily Beast, Kobach pointed to a series of measures that include a photo ID photocopy or license number requirement on mail ballot requests and a signature verification standard to show that "the Kansas system is the safest in the country." While Kobach spins his approach that way, his larger overhaul of the state's elections system proved to be deeply controversial, sparking litigation and derision from Democrats for the tightened restrictions Kobach wanted voters to face. That push led to Kobach often failing in court as he tried to defend the strict laws he championed. Mail-in ballots will be especially crucial in the eventual results. The Kansas Secretary of State's office tweeted over the weekend that "314,979 advance ballots mailed, 178,294 advance ballots returned," in what the office's figures showed was an overwhelming surge for the method from the same point in the 2016 and 2018 elections. "It's not surprising that he's trying to thread the needle here by nodding in the direction of Trump's overall claims about fraud, claims which are not supported by the evidence, without discouraging Kansas voters from using the system to vote for him," said Richard Hasen, an expert on election law at the University of California, Irvine. Kobach has been an avid Trump supporter since the president's 2016 primary run and has embraced standing with the president as Trump's voter fraud claim has grown more fierce. Following the 2016 election, with Trump able to claim victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the electoral college but not the popular vote, the incoming president leveled the bogus charge on Twitter that "I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." Rarely one to shy away from a voting controversy, Kobach told reporters soon after that Trump was correct, according to The Kansas City Star, despite no evidence from the 2016 election to make that case. Kobach soon became the public face of Trump's voter fraud commission, but the crusade became a public spectacle that was abandoned amid controversy, a lack of evidence and results. Kobach's loyalty to Trump was rewarded during the 2018 election season with a last-minute endorsement from the president that observers in Kansas believe made the difference in the Republican's 343 win over then Gov. Jeff Colyer. But Trump's adoration, and a major rally in Topeka with Kobach ahead of the general election, weren't enough to keep Kobach from losing to Democrat Laura Kelly by 5 points in the general election. Trump has yet to endorse in the Senate race—a rare example of the president choosing not to flex his muscle among the Republican base. But ahead of Tuesday's primary, Patrick Miller, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, said Kobach's tone on mail-in voting feels like a case of "the problem is with everyone else except for me." "It's definitely the kind of move that lets him back Trump but then say that he created the great exception," Miller said. "Which makes sense. He doesn't want to be in a position where he is seen as contradicting anything that Donald Trump says." At the same time, however, Kobach also has to deal with his record as the state's chief election official. "I think he's doing this in a smart way," Miller said. "I'm not sure he's doing this in an intellectually honest way, particularly by impugning the integrity of mail voting in other states." Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Illinois officials call to abolish history classes in the state until an 'alternative' is set up to highlight underrepresented groups Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:38 PM PDT  Illinois Democratic State Representative LaShawn K. Ford is demanding the history of minority groups to be taught in state schools.
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| Who is Karen Bass? Posted: 02 Aug 2020 01:48 PM PDT  Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., has been mentioned as a potential running mate for former VP Joe Biden, who has vowed to pick a woman as his vice president.
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| See Inside Zaha Hadid’s Revolutionary Oeuvre Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:32 PM PDT |
| California governor says COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations trending down Posted: 03 Aug 2020 12:30 PM PDT  The rates of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions were all trending downward in California in the latest counts, the governor said on Monday. Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said that despite that good news, the state's Central Valley agricultural region was still being hit hard by the coronavirus. "This virus is not going away," Newsom said at a daily coronavirus briefing.
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| Hurricane Isaias roars ashore on US East Coast Posted: 04 Aug 2020 12:52 AM PDT  Hurricane Isaias slammed into North Carolina Monday, bringing life-threatening storm surges, as the entire US eastern seaboard battened down, fearing flash floods and destructive winds. The Category 1 hurricane, packing sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (140 kilometres per hour), made landfall in the southern part of the state near Ocean Isle Beach at 11:10 pm (0310 GMT Tuesday), the National Hurricane Center said. It said storm surges could generate inundations three to five feet (one to 1.5 metres) above ground level.
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| Court hears horrific details of how 'Doomsday Mom' Lori Vallow's children were discovered Posted: 03 Aug 2020 03:49 PM PDT  Idaho Police have shared shocking details of unearthing the remains of 'Doomsday Mom' Lori Vallow Daybell's two children, who had been missing for months prior to their discovery.Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo gave the chilling testimony in a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to hold her husband Chad Daybell for trial.
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| Op-Ed: Trump has pulled out of the global battle for hearts and minds Posted: 04 Aug 2020 03:15 AM PDT  In stripping Voice of America and other broadcasts of their independence, the Trump administration is undermining a powerful tool of diplomacy.
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| I drank lemon water every morning for a week and I saw results Posted: 04 Aug 2020 08:23 AM PDT  For one week, the writer tried drinking lemon water first thing in the morning to see if really has any natural health benefits. Here's what happened.
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| Kaepernick shirt was attack dogs' target at Navy Seal event Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:56 PM PDT  The US Navy Seals have launched an investigation after the footage from an event last year emerged.
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| Australia: British-Australian woman in Iran prison 'is well' Posted: 03 Aug 2020 10:18 PM PDT  Australia's ambassador to Iran has visited a British-Australian academic who was convicted of espionage before being moved recently to a notorious Iranian prison, and found that she "is well," Australia's government said Tuesday. Kylie Moore-Gilbert was a Melbourne University lecturer on Middle Eastern studies when she was sent to Tehran's Evin Prison in September 2018 and sentenced to 10 years. Australia sought urgent consular access and its ambassador to Iran, Lyndall Sachs, visited Moore-Gilbert in Qarchak Prison on Sunday, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or DFAT, said in a statement.
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| Will Karen Bass bring her activist bona fides to Joe Biden's presidential ticket? Posted: 02 Aug 2020 01:06 PM PDT  Rep. Karen Bass is a self-described "lifelong activist," shaped by transformative decades in South Los Angeles. She's also reportedly a potential Joe Biden VP pick.
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| Eli Lilly testing whether novel COVID-19 antibody drug can quash outbreaks in nursing homes Posted: 04 Aug 2020 03:25 AM PDT  Eli Lilly & Co. has started a Phase 3 trial of its experimental antibody-based COVID-19 drug in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, testing whether the drug reduces the infection rate at facilities where residents or staff have recently tested positive for the new coronavirus. The study involves Eli Lilly driving specially modified RVs to newly infected nursing homes and injecting its COVID-19 drug, code-named LY-CoV555, in volunteers, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company said its drug may get government approval by the end of 2020.Eli Lilly is already testing its antibody treatment, developed with Canadian biotech AbCellera Biologics, in hospitals on COVID-19 patents with mild and more severe cases. Researchers essentially cloned antibodies from one of the first U.S. patients to recover from COVID-19, hoping those proteins help the immune system fight the virus or prevent it from taking hold. If Eli Lilly's drug or another like it proves safe and effective, public health experts say it might serve as a bridge until a vaccine is available.Nursing homes have been especially susceptible to deadly COVID-19 outbreaks. The new study, conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, seeks to enroll 2,400 test subjects.More stories from theweek.com Why Obama still drives Republicans nuts The most damning inside portrait of the Trump administration yet Trump apparently doesn't know how to pronounce Yosemite
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| She got the virus. Then she was fired. Some sick workers left in cold by employers. Posted: 03 Aug 2020 07:45 AM PDT  McDonald's and Marriott franchises are among hundreds of businesses that have illegally denied paid sick leave during the pandemic, records show.
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| Mexico arrests 'El Marro,' gang leader at the center of a bloody cartel war Posted: 02 Aug 2020 12:32 PM PDT  Mexican authorities say they have detained José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, alias 'El Marro,' the alleged leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel.
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| 6 months after declaring the coronavirus a global health emergency, WHO director says there may never be a 'silver bullet' for it Posted: 03 Aug 2020 09:37 PM PDT  "There's no silver bullet at the moment, and there might never be," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday.
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| Splash Mountain log flume ride sinks at Disney World's Magic Kingdom Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:57 PM PDT  Walt Disney World's Splash Mountain hit rough waters Sunday as Twitter users posted video of a submerged log flume ride they were in moments earlier.
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| Tropical Storm Isaias moves up coast of virus-hit Florida Posted: 02 Aug 2020 12:58 PM PDT  The storm is travelling slowly up the coast, bringing strong winds and rain to the US state.
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| Trump fires TVA chair, cites hiring of foreign workers Posted: 03 Aug 2020 09:45 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said Monday that he had fired the chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority, criticizing the federally owned corporation for hiring foreign workers. Trump told reporters at the White House that he was formally removing chair Skip Thompson and another member of the board, and he threatened to remove other board members if they continued to hire foreign labor. The TVA was created in 1933 to provide flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region that was hard hit by the Great Depression.
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| A California couple were arrested on hate-crime charges after they yelled 'white power' during an episode of road rage, police say Posted: 02 Aug 2020 01:14 PM PDT  They yelled "white power" and "only white lives matter" at a Black man and his girlfriend in a racist altercation on the road on July 22, police said.
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| An unassuming Las Vegas house with a massive bunker 26 feet underground and a faux outdoor space is on the market for $18 million — take a look inside Posted: 04 Aug 2020 06:39 AM PDT  Inside, the house is covered in murals of landscapes, plus lighting that changes based on the time of day.
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| After arrest, Zimbabwean novelist decries state 'chokehold' Posted: 04 Aug 2020 08:01 AM PDT  A prize-winning Zimbabwean novelist and filmmaker arrested at recent protests accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government on Tuesday of holding its people in a repressive "chokehold" as they endured an economic emergency. Tsitsi Dangarembga, whose latest book "This Mournable Body" has been nominated for a Booker Prize, was bundled into a police truck while holding placards on Friday and charged with breaking the COVID-19 lockdown to hold an illegal gathering. Security forces deployed on Friday to block planned opposition protests over corruption and economic hardships.
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| Trump Not Impressed by John Lewis: ‘He Didn’t Come to My Inauguration’ Posted: 03 Aug 2020 10:11 PM PDT  President Donald Trump refused to say whether he found the civil rights icon John Lewis impressive, grumbling that the longtime Democratic congressman and voting rights pioneer didn't come to his inauguration or State of the Union addresses. Toward the end of a wide-ranging interview in which Axios reporter Jonathan Swan grilled him on coronavirus and Russian bounties, the president was asked whether he believed systemic racism exists.After saying "I hope the answer to that question is no," Trump attempted to deflect when confronted with the facts that Black men disproportionately die at the hands of police compared to whites. "OK, if that's the number, it speaks to something that to me is unacceptable," Trump said in the interview, which aired Monday night on HBO. The president, however, wouldn't definitively say that systemic racism exists. Instead, he fell back to his well-worn talking points about passing criminal justice reform and creating "opportunity zones" in order to repeat his claim that he's done more for Black Americans than any other president outside of the "possible exception" of Abraham Lincoln."You really—you believe you did more than Lyndon Johnson, who passed the Civil Rights Act?" an incredulous Swan asked."I think I did, yeah," Trump shot back, citing criminal and prison reform.Swan noted that Johnson passed civil rights legislation in the 1960s, something that apparently left Trump unimpressed."Take a look at what Lyndon Johnson did," Trump huffed. "How has it worked out? Because, frankly, it took a long time.""You think that was a mistake?" Swan wondered aloud as Trump rambled on about his own personal achievements.After the president finished patting himself on the back about how Black Americans "were doing better than they had ever done in the history of this country" under his administration, Swan turned the conversation to Lewis."John Lewis is lying in state in the U.S. Capitol," he asked. "How do you think history will remember John Lewis?""I don't know. I really don't know. I don't know. I don't know John Lewis," Trump replied, adding: "He chose not to come to my inauguration. He chose—I don't—I never met John Lewis actually, I don't believe."Swan continued to press the issue, asking the president—who once called the civil rights legend "all talk, no action"—if he found Lewis impressive."I can't say one way or the other," Trump, who skipped Lewis' memorial services, said. "I find a lot of people impressive. I find many people not impressive. But no, he didn't come to my inauguration. He didn't come to my State of the Union speeches, and that's OK. That's his right. And, again, nobody has done more for Black Americans than I have. He should've come. I think he made a big mistake. I think he should've come."Swan attempted one more time to give Trump an opportunity to say something nice about the man whose skull was fractured marching for the right to vote. The president offered the slightest of compliments."But taking your relationship with him out of it," the Axios reporter asked. "Do you find his story impressive, what he's done for this country?""He was a person that devoted a lot of energy and a lotta heart to civil rights," Trump shrugged before adding: "But there were many others also."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| John Hume, who worked to end N. Ireland violence, dies at 83 Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:46 AM PDT  John Hume, the visionary politician who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fashioning the agreement that ended violence in his native Northern Ireland, has died at 83, his family said Monday. The Catholic leader of the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party, Hume was seen as the principal architect of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace agreement. "I want to see Ireland as an example to men and women everywhere of what can be achieved by living for ideals, rather than fighting for them, and by viewing each and every person as worthy of respect and honor," he said in 1998.
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| Protesters Prevent Police from Investigating Stabbing Outside of Portland Courthouse Posted: 04 Aug 2020 06:00 AM PDT  A "hostile crowd" prevented Portland police from investigating a stabbing at the site of nightly racial justice protests and rioting on Monday. A woman had walked into Lownsdale Square park in downtown Portland and was taking photos or recording video just before 6:30 p.m. when an argument began between the woman and other people in the park. The woman who had been taking photos then brandished a knife and stabbed another woman in the chest.Officers were met with a "hostile crowd" on the scene and were forced to bring in reinforcements to the area. As police were trying to secure the crime scene, someone picked up the knife used in the stabbing and ran off with it, Portland police said. Supervisors made the decision to disengage after officers could not safely conduct an investigation in the presence of the crowd.The suspect fled the area but later returned and was interviewed by police. The victim, whom officers found a few blocks away at SW 5th Ave and SW Taylor Street, was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The city has experienced months of rioting and unrest following the death of George Floyd, leading to the deployment of federal agents to the city. Rioters have repeatedly used violence to target the federal courthouse there, attacking federal law enforcement with various weapons including Molotov cocktails, and in some cases blinding officers with lasers.While Oregon elected officials demanded the removal of federal law enforcement from the city, President Trump said "there would be no Portland" if Department of Homeland Security personnel had not been sent in.A phased removal of federal law enforcement from the city began last week.
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| Gym owners defy pandemic orders, break into own business closed by state and reopen it Posted: 02 Aug 2020 02:33 PM PDT  Authorities closed the gym Monday, when they charged the owners with contempt and disorderly persons offenses.
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| Marine AAV Hit Rough Seas, Rapidly Took on Water Before Sinking Posted: 03 Aug 2020 03:07 PM PDT  The Marines and sailor were assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines.
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| Parents in a school district in Georgia, are demanding in-person classes. But hundreds of employees have tested positive or been exposed to COVID-19, revealing the biggest blind spot in the fight to reopen schools Posted: 03 Aug 2020 07:58 PM PDT  "The primary consideration should always be the safety, the health of the welfare of the children, as well as the teachers...," Anthony Fauci said.
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| Fire breaks out at Iranian industrial area, no casualties: state TV Posted: 04 Aug 2020 12:43 AM PDT |
| Trump news: Top Democrat compares president to Mussolini as White House admits it is 'very concerned' over coronavirus deaths rising Posted: 02 Aug 2020 11:30 AM PDT  The White House coronavirus task force has warned that deaths will continue to spike within the next several weeks as the nation responds to a "new phase" of the pandemic that has gripped both rural and urban areas despite scrutiny from health experts that the administration failed to respond to the crisis at its onset.Donald Trump has meanwhile issued a rare direct rebuke of the nation's leading infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci, whom the president said is "wrong" to blame the surging public health crisis on the nation's failure to shut down its economy.
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| Hannity: Democrats float bizarre theory about Trump not leaving office Posted: 03 Aug 2020 06:35 PM PDT  Democrats turn back to conspiracy theories and hoaxes ahead of 2020 presidential election.
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| Panama proposes flying Haitian migrants home after clash Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:56 PM PDT  The government of Panama said Monday it has proposed giving some Haitian migrants flights back to their homeland after frustrations boiled over at the remote camps where they are stuck. The camps in Panama's southern Darien province also house some Cuban and African migrants, but about 80% of the 2,000 migrants there are from Haiti. Public Safety Minister Juan Pino said Monday he offered improved medical services or repatriation flights to the migrants, who want to travel overland to the U.S. border but cannot do so because of coronavirus restrictions.
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| Scientists retract claim of finding tiniest dinosaur Posted: 03 Aug 2020 11:15 AM PDT  The "tiny, weird bird-like dinosaur" was not a dinosaur or a bird after all, according to a retraction of the research published in a prestigious journal
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| Coronavirus experts on what to do and U.S. response to the pandemic Posted: 04 Aug 2020 08:12 AM PDT  USA TODAY's Editorial Board sits down with doctors in the field of infectious diseases working to eradicate the pandemic. Read Q&As;, watch videos.
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| Aurora police apologize after drawing guns on Black family, mistaking vehicle as stolen Posted: 04 Aug 2020 09:23 AM PDT  The Aurora police chief apologized after officers drew weapons on a Black family and handcuffed a 17-year-old and a 12-year-old during a traffic stop.
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| Russia says it will start mass-producing its coronavirus vaccine next month — as scientists say developers rushed through tests and injected themselves to shorten human trials Posted: 04 Aug 2020 06:21 AM PDT  A Russian official likened the race for a coronavirus vaccine to the Space Race with the US during the Cold War.
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| Joint U.S. military drills get thumbs down from Thais amid virus fears Posted: 03 Aug 2020 05:58 AM PDT  This month's joint U.S.-Thai military exercises in Thailand have drawn criticism from Thais on social media after authorities announced that dozens of visiting American troops would be undergoing their mandatory 14-day quarantine in Bangkok hotels. Thailand has been over two months without a local transmission and has kept infections to just over 3,300. It has closed borders and airspace to tourists to keep the virus out and allows entry only to Thai repatriates or foreigners with special permission.
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| Being a Chinese student in the US: ‘Neither the US nor China wants us’ Posted: 03 Aug 2020 10:30 PM PDT  Amid a global pandemic and diplomatic tensions, Chinese students in the US are feeling anxious.
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| Donald Trump threatens to sue Nevada to stop mail-in ballots Posted: 03 Aug 2020 05:20 PM PDT  President Trump vowed on Monday to sue Nevada after the state's Democratic lawmakers passed a bill to send mail-in ballots to every voter before November's presidential election in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Trump, who has repeatedly claimed without evidence that voting by mail will lead to rampant fraud, wrote on Twitter that the legislation approved on Sunday was an "illegal late night coup" and told reporters his administration was already preparing a lawsuit. "We will be suing in Nevada. And that's already been taken care of, we'll probably file something tomorrow," he said during a White House briefing. The state's Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, signed the bill, making Nevada the seventh state to send ballots to all registered voters for the Nov 3 election between Mr Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Utah, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington already conduct their elections entirely by mail, while California and Vermont have decided to do so this year due to the pandemic.
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