| Why a Black man from Louisiana is serving a life sentence for stealing hedge clippers Posted: 07 Aug 2020 04:42 PM PDT  Louisiana's highest court won't review a life sentence for Fair Wayne Bryant, who was convicted of attempting to steal a pair of hedge clippers in 1997.
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| Trump calls audience at his Bedminster golf club a 'peaceful protest' Posted: 07 Aug 2020 06:05 PM PDT  President Trump said his audience of well-to-do supporters was involved in a "peaceful protest" and therefore did not need to adhere to state coronavirus guidelines prohibiting large gatherings.
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| Woman is first in U.S. to get second face transplant Posted: 07 Aug 2020 10:53 AM PDT  Carmen Blandin Tarleton is just the second person in the world to undergo the procedure again.
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| A father, a sister, a son: Beirut blast takes a heavy toll Posted: 08 Aug 2020 12:03 AM PDT  A close twin sister, now separated forever. Tuesday's enormous explosion that killed scores of people, injured thousands and caused widespread destruction across Lebanon's capital touched off widespread mourning for the victims.
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| After Elon Musk criticized Bernie Sanders' brand of socialism, Sanders took him to task for taking billions of dollars in government support Posted: 07 Aug 2020 05:56 PM PDT  Elon Musk tweeted out a meme critical of Bernie Sanders in response to a bill Sanders introduced that would tax billionaires to pay for health care.
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| A stranded tanker carrying 4,000 tons of fuel has breached and is leaking oil into the pristine, azure waters of the Indian Ocean Posted: 08 Aug 2020 07:23 AM PDT  The MV Wakashio ran aground off Mauritius on July 25. Cracks emerged in the hull on Friday after the ship was battered by strong winds.
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| Nasa to change 'harmful' and insensitive' planet and galaxy nicknames Posted: 08 Aug 2020 12:01 PM PDT  Space agency says 'certain cosmic nicknames are insensitive' and vows to drop any reference to themNasa has signaled it is joining the social justice movement by changing unofficial and potentially contentious names used by the scientific community for distant cosmic objects and systems such as planets, galaxies and nebulae.In a statement last week, the space agency said that as the "community works to identify and address systemic discrimination and inequality in all aspects of the field, it has become clear that certain cosmic nicknames are not only insensitive, but can be actively harmful".Nasa added that it is "examining its use of unofficial terminology for cosmic objects as part of its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion".One of the steps Nasa would immediately take would be to drop references to planetary nebula NGC 2392 known as the "Eskimo Nebula", a dying Sun-like star that is blowing off its outer layers. "Eskimo", the agency said, "is widely viewed as a colonial term with a racist history, imposed on the indigenous people of Arctic regions."It will also cease to refer to a pair of spiral galaxies, NGC 4567 and NGC 4568, in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster referred to as the "Siamese Twins Galaxy", as part of its effort to align cosmic objects with current thinking and conventions."These nicknames and terms may have historical or culture connotations that are objectionable or unwelcoming, and Nasa is strongly committed to addressing them," said Stephen Shih, associate administrator for diversity and equal opportunity at Nasa. "Science depends on diverse contributions, and benefits everyone, so this means we must make it inclusive."In future, Nasa said it will use only the official, International Astronomical Union designations in cases where nicknames are inappropriate. Cosmic objects, such as Barnard 33, nicknamed "the Horsehead Nebula" would be retain their names.The "Siamese Twin Galaxy" was so-named by Frederick William Herschel, the British, German-born astronomer and composer. Herschel also identified and named the "Eskimo Nebula" which he described in January 1787 as "a star 9th magnitude with a pretty bright middle, nebulosity equally dispersed all around. A very remarkable phenomenon."Herschel then spent nine years surveying the heavens for double stars, publishing catalogues of nebulae in 1802 (2,500 objects) and in 1820 (5,000 objects). Among Herschel's achievements was to note a new object in the constellation of Gemini.It was confirmed to be a new planet, named Uranus, and considered to be the first planet to be discovered since antiquity. He also identified the planet's moons, Titania and Oberon, as well as Enceladus and Mimas, both moons of Saturn.But his nomenclature will now fall from official use at the US agency, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of Nasa's science mission directorate in Washington."Our goal is that all names are aligned with our values of diversity and inclusion, and we'll proactively work with the scientific community to help ensure that. Science is for everyone, and every facet of our work needs to reflect that value," Zurbuchen said.
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| Bodies of 8 U.S. service members recovered after assault vehicle sank off California Posted: 08 Aug 2020 06:53 AM PDT  A total of eight Marines and a Navy sailor died after the amphibious assault vehicle they were in sank off San Clemente Island in California last week.
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| 12,000 crew members still on cruise ships in US waters months after COVID-19 pandemic shut cruising down Posted: 09 Aug 2020 08:29 AM PDT  Nearly five months after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the cruise industry, more than 12,000 crew members remained on ships in U.S. waters alone.
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| Litman: New York wants to dissolve the NRA; it will probably decapitate it instead Posted: 09 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Even if the NRA survives New York's lawsuit, dethroning its CEO and heaping it with humiliation and penalties will be a victory.
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| An Air India plane crashed while landing at a notoriously tricky airport — here's why 'tabletop' runways can be so treacherous Posted: 07 Aug 2020 01:58 PM PDT  These mountaintop runways leave little margin for error, and can create optical illusions that threaten to fool pilots.
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| COVID-19 cases top 5 million in US with odds for highly effective vaccine ‘not great’ Posted: 09 Aug 2020 07:03 AM PDT  The United States leads the world in confirmed cases, followed by Brazil and India.
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| 'Unconstitutional slop': Democrats blast Trump's executive actions on coronavirus relief Posted: 09 Aug 2020 08:58 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the "kindest thing I could say" after looking at President Trump's executive orders was that he "doesn't know what he's talking about."
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| Canada 'knows the root cause': China hints at Huawei retaliation as it sentences two Canadians to death Posted: 07 Aug 2020 12:16 PM PDT  A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Canada "knows the root cause" behind recent death sentences for Canadians facing drug charges, the latest escalation in conflict between both countries following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reportedly said the judicial system in China "handles cases independently" while discussing the recent death sentences for two Canadian nationals charged in separate cases with transporting and manufacturing drugs in China.
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| Small farmers left behind in Trump administration's COVID-19 relief package Posted: 09 Aug 2020 03:12 AM PDT  The uneven distribution of funds is stark. The top 10 percent got over 60 percent of the pot, while the bottom 10 percent got just 0.26 percent.
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| US government issues bear advice: friends don't let friends get eaten Posted: 07 Aug 2020 10:37 AM PDT  The National Park Service has warned against sacrificing slower friends in a bear attack 'even if the friendship has run its course'There are a few potential reactions to being attacked by a bear – stand your ground and attempt to scare it off, run away or perhaps curl up into the fetal position and hope for the best.The US government has now, however, officially advised against the most cowardly option: pushing over a slower friend to save yourself.The National Park Service has warned against sacrificing another person to an irate bear "even if you think the friendship has run its course" in a rather informal set of recommendations posted on Facebook.Bear attacks are a rare but real threat in parts of the US, with a man recently videoing his own mangled hand and arm after encountering a grizzly bear in an abandoned shed in Montana. In a separate incident this week, wildlife officials in Alaska killed four bears suspected of involvement in the death of a man who was mauled while clearing a trail behind his property.There have been a record number of grizzly bear attacks in the Yellowstone region in 2020, possibly due to the increase in people hiking in the region in search of a respite from pandemic lockdowns.In the National Park Service's message, anyone coming face-to-face with a bear is advised to "move away closely and sideways; this allows you to keep an eye on the bear and avoid tripping. Moving sideways is also non-threatening to bears."People should not run – "like dogs they will chase fleeing animals" the message warns – or escape up a tree as both grizzlies and black bears are adept at climbing trees.The warning then adds: "Do NOT push down a slower friend (even if you think the friendship has run its course)."Instead, it is advised that people hold their ground and make noise to identify yourself as a human and not a prey animal. "We recommend using your voice. (Waving and showing off your opposable thumb means nothing to the bear)," the message reads. To reiterate the concern over unscrupulous hikers pushing others to their doom to save themselves, the post ends by stating: "We apologize to any 'friends' who were brought on a hike as the 'bait' or were sacrificed to save the group. You will be missed. "
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| Japan's Abe to avoid visit to war-linked shrine on 75th war anniversary: Jiji Posted: 08 Aug 2020 10:59 PM PDT  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will refrain from visiting the Yasukuni shrine for war dead on the 75th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War Two, Jiji news agency said on Sunday, but will make an offering on the emotive day, as he has done in the past. The shrine, dedicated to Japanese who have died during past wars including World War Two, is seen as a potent symbol of the controversy that persists over the conflict's legacy in East Asia. "He will make a ritual offering to the shrine out of his personal expenses as the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as he has done in previous years," sources close to the matter said, according to the report.
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| Iran asks UN to hold US accountable for plane interception Posted: 07 Aug 2020 08:46 PM PDT |
| It's decision time for Joe Biden. His VP pick could make history, with Harris, Rice among top contenders Posted: 09 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Joe Biden has a crucial decision to make and the stakes are high for whichever woman he chooses as his running mate.
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| A Mercedes-Benz Sprinter was converted into a tiny luxury home on wheels starting at $172,500 — see inside the 2021 Daycruiser 144 RV Posted: 08 Aug 2020 05:17 AM PDT  The interior can be upgraded to include several luxury appliances, such as a television on the bathroom door and a wireless internet router.
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| Kerala plane crash: 18 dead after Air India plane breaks in two at Calicut Posted: 07 Aug 2020 10:18 PM PDT  The plane had 190 people on board and was repatriating Indians stranded by the coronavirus crisis.
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| Bars over schools: Why your kids will probably learn from home this fall Posted: 07 Aug 2020 02:43 PM PDT  Lawmakers and educators battle over how to reopen schools safely this fall amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
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| Sweden looks to US model to curb deadly gang shootings Posted: 09 Aug 2020 06:33 AM PDT  Police in Stockholm are considering using a strategy against gun violence pioneered in gang-ridden US cities to counter a wave of shootings including an incident in which a 12-year-old girl was killed in crossfire last week. Senior officers from the Swedish capital have visited the southern city of Malmö, which has greatly reduced its shootings by using the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) methods pioneered in the 1990s in US cities. "They reacted very positively," Rolf Landgren, the police commissioner who leads the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) programme in Malmö, said. The shooting of the girl at a petrol station in Stockholm has led to renewed calls for police to clamp down on the gang violence that has resulted in close to 100 shootings in the first four months of this year alone. Police believe she was hit by a bullet fired at two men with links to a known gang. Malmö is on track this year to record its lowest number of shootings in a decade, with only nine registered so far, down from a peak of 65 in 2017. This is in line with results in US cities. A study of GVI in Boston found that it led to a 63 per cent fall in youth homicide. Mr Landgren said it had taken years of deadly violence before Malmö's police began to consider GVI – a method developed by David Kennedy, a criminologist, for Boston during the peak of its gun violence in the Nineties. "We had figures way, way higher than we had ever seen before. We needed to break that spiral," he said. In Malmö, the programme, called Ceasefire, was launched in late 2018. Known or suspected gang members are offered help to leave gang life and warned that if they continue to engage in gun crime, they risk continual police harassment. Suspects are continually targeted using laws that were designed to tackle football hooligans. The bullet-proof car owned by a 30-year-old suspected gang leader was stopped so frequently that he reported the police to Sweden's parliamentary ombudsman for harassment. The man has since been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison, after drugs and weapons were found during a raid. He has appealed the sentence.
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| Ireland has a new coronavirus fear: Americans on vacation Posted: 09 Aug 2020 01:59 AM PDT  With little to no quarantine enforcement on visitors, some Irish business owners say they have had to take matters into their own hands.
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| New 'threat' against former Saudi spy in Canada: media Posted: 08 Aug 2020 01:53 PM PDT  A former senior Saudi intelligence official who has accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of trying to have him assassinated in 2018 has been placed under heightened security after a new threat on his life, a Canadian newspaper reported. The Globe and Mail said Canadian security services had been informed of a new attempted attack on Saad Aljabri, who lives at an undisclosed location in the Toronto region. Aljabri served as a counterespionage chief under a rival prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, who was ousted in 2017 by Prince Mohammed.
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| Stimulus bill talks hit another dead end after 2 weeks of negotiations Posted: 07 Aug 2020 01:54 PM PDT  Congressional Democrats and White House leaders didn't solve anything during a Friday meeting meant to hammer out the next CARES Act, closing out a second week of negotiations with next to nothing to show for them.The main problem, CNN's Phil Mattingly reports, is that Democrats don't have the votes to support any bill under $2 trillion and Republicans won't accept anything over it. Those sticking points led to what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called a "disappointing meeting" with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Friday.While Democrats offered to slash $1 trillion off their $3.4 trillion proposal if Republicans added $1 trillion to theirs to meet in the middle, the White House officials refused, Pelosi told reporters after the meeting. "I've told them, 'Come back when you are ready to give us a higher number,'" Pelosi continued. Pelosi later issued a statement to House Democrats laying out just how far apart the parties are on the bill.> .@SpeakerPelosi, in letter to House Dems, lists off just how many major outstanding issues remain in the coronavirus relief talks: pic.twitter.com/xtnjbHZXaG> > — Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) August 7, 2020The impasse means out-of-work Americans are still without a boost to their unemployment insurance, after Democrats refused to agree to Republicans' standalone measure to temporarily continue the $600/week addition that's been in place since early in the pandemic. Time is also running short on divvying funding to improve online education programs, as some schools have already reopened.More stories from theweek.com 5 scathing cartoons about Trump's 'it is what it is' COVID response QAnon goes mainstream The case against American truck bloat
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| Is France helping Lebanon, or trying to reconquer it? Posted: 08 Aug 2020 12:43 AM PDT  It was almost as if Emmanuel Macron forgot that Lebanon is no longer a French protectorate. Visiting explosion-ravaged Beirut this week, France's leader comforted distraught crowds, promised to rebuild the city and claimed that the blast pierced France's own heart. "France will never let Lebanon go," Macron said.
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| 'Your time is up': Thousands protest against Netanyahu over COVID-19 and alleged corruption Posted: 08 Aug 2020 10:49 AM PDT  "Your time is up", read the giant letters projected on to a building at the protest site, as demonstrators waved Israeli flags and called on Netanyahu to resign over what they say is his failure to protect jobs and businesses affected by the pandemic. The protest movement has intensified in recent weeks, with critics accusing Netanyahu of being distracted by a corruption case against him. Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party on Saturday called the protests "left-wing riots" and accused Israel's popular Channel 12 news of "doing everything it can to encourage the far-left demonstrations" of the premier's opponents.
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| The onion salmonella outbreak grows. More recalls from Walmart, Kroger, Publix, H-E-B Posted: 08 Aug 2020 12:10 PM PDT  The Salmonella Newport outbreak linked to onions has expanded into one of the largest in recent years, with 640 people sickened in 43 states, as of the most recent CDC update.
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| Coronavirus: New Zealand marks 100 days without community spread Posted: 09 Aug 2020 07:54 AM PDT  The prime minister hails the milestone as "significant", but warns against complacency.
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| How Leander Perez’s Vicious Racism Backfired and Saved Jury Trials Posted: 09 Aug 2020 01:56 AM PDT  All Gary Duncan wanted to do was prevent a fight between some Black and white kids. But when the 19-year old African-American lightly touched the arm of a 14-year-old white boy named Herman Landry in what he felt was a paternal, conciliatory gesture, Landry's response was, "My people can put you in jail for that."This was in October 1966, in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, at the height of the civil rights era. Plaquemines was, thanks to the oil and fishing industries, one of the wealthiest rural counties in the country. But it was ruled by Leander Perez, a Democratic political boss and one of the shrewdest, most virulent segregationists in the history of American apartheid. Which is one reason why Duncan, despite his innocent gesture, was arrested on the charge of "Cruelty to Juveniles," and why his case eventually culminated in Duncan v. Louisiana, a Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed the right to a jury trial for any and all serious crimes."The significance of Duncan v. Louisiana is less about the immediate impact of the Court's ruling than about the foundation that ruling laid," says Matthew Van Meter, author of Deep Delta Justice, a new book about the Duncan case and the Plaquemines milieu in which it originated. "Duncan v. Louisiana is the basis of five decades of jurisprudence that protects juries from racial discrimination, ensures that they come to fair decisions, and forces the prosecution to prove every relevant fact to them. These cases are still coming down: just this spring, in Ramos v. Louisiana, the Court overturned the non-unanimous jury systems in Louisiana and Oregon—citing Duncan v. Louisiana as its basis."Duncan's case would never have gotten as far as it did if the Plaquemines authorities hadn't belatedly realized that "Cruelty to Juveniles" only applied to adults with some sort of authority over the alleged victim, usually parents. So they changed the charge to "Simple Battery" which, although classified as a misdemeanor, meant a person could serve two years in prison and did not entitle Duncan to a jury trial under Louisiana law. In fact, all cases other than those in which the maximum penalty was hard labor or death were to be tried by a judge without a jury, and only death penalty cases mandated a 12-person, unanimous jury.Enter Richard Sobol, a New York lawyer who was staff attorney for the New Orleans branch of the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee (LCDC), founded to defend civil rights activists. Sobol agreed to defend Duncan, knowing that his demand for a jury trial would be rejected, and realizing his ultimate audience was the U.S. Supreme Court.In the meantime Perez, who was not only a racist but virulent anti-Semite (Sobol was Jewish), spent his time skimming money from lucrative oil and mineral leases (after his death his sons were sued and forced to return $12 million to the parish), plotting ways to undermine SCOTUS' decision to integrate the public schools, and engaging in vindictive behavior targeting Sobol, whom he arrested for practicing law in Louisiana without a license (Sobol sued, and won in federal court)."To me, Perez was not only vindictive, he had all this power in the Louisiana legislature," says Van Meter. "By the time the events in the book happen, he had been in office for 45 years. The thing about Perez also, segregation and Jim Crow were always about innovation, you had to stay one step ahead of SCOTUS, come up with new and novel ways of maintaining segregation. He was part of this team of lawyers working on ways to keep people apart. And he was pitted against people like Sobol who were trying to out-innovate him."Perez, who at one time built a prison camp for "racial agitators," was heavily involved in moving segregationist legislation through the state legislature, and in voter suppression efforts. He managed to establish segregated "academies" in the parish with tuition funded by public money and was so successful in his voting campaigns that from 1955 to 1960, only five African-Americans managed to register to vote in the parish.Perez also doubled down on his nastiness after SCOTUS ruled 7-2 in Duncan's favor, and Justice Byron White's majority opinion stated that "a right to jury trial is granted to criminal defendants in order to prevent oppression by the Government." But SCOTUS left open the option for a non-jury trial for "petty offenses." So, after the decision, the Louisiana legislature reduced the penalty for simple battery to six months, which White had defined as a reasonable dividing line between serious and petty crimes. Incensed by SCOTUS' decision, Perez then had Duncan re-arrested for what remained a non-jury offense. Sobol sued, claiming this was pure harassment, and won again. Charges against Duncan were finally dropped, nearly four years after the initial incident.Duncan v. Louisiana was part of what Van Meter refers to as a "criminal procedure revolution" that included Miranda v. Arizona (Miranda warnings) and Gideon v. Wainright (the right to a public defender). But although the ramifications of those two decisions are still alive and well, the Duncan case has been severely undercut by plea bargaining, which now accounts for over 90 percent of all criminal cases. "As more and more laws have been passed, it's entirely up to the prosecutor what to charge you with, and what sentence to ask for," says Van Meter, whose book is being turned into A Crime on the Bayou, a documentary in development at HBO. "What they come to you with is the most serious charge and say if you want to go to trial and take your chances, or right now we can plead you down to whatever. What reasonable person will take their chances on a jury trial? This is an unbelievably important case that just doesn't apply anymore."Still, Van Meter believes that the Duncan case, and its place within the civil rights movement of the '60s, has a lot in common with today's Black Lives Matter protests. "The whole thing about BLM is that it does not have charismatic leadership, and that's a positive resolution. Because Martin Luther King was mostly absent from Louisiana, the movement was local, and highly dangerous. In Plaquemines they were using demonstrations to draw out a response, and then hiring lawyers to take cases to federal court. They were working to orchestrate highly targeted events, and I think that is going on now. "It's this one-two punch using demonstrations in a targeted way to draw out the oppression of the government, and then using lawyers to take this to court. I think there's a way to learn how these movements sustained themselves for years under incredibly harsh conditions. I think there's a lot to be learned how local groups managed to win these big victories over many years despite conditions that are harsher than what we see today."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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| Police Officer Fired After Allegedly Mishandling Explicit Photos of Slain University of Utah Student Posted: 08 Aug 2020 10:22 AM PDT  The Salt Lake Tribune had reported that the officer had downloaded, shared and bragged about the photos
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| Egypt highway uproots graves, homes in 'City of Dead' Posted: 08 Aug 2020 08:07 PM PDT  Egyptian mother-of-three Menna said she was caught off guard when a bulldozer clearing space for a controversial highway flattened much of a mausoleum that doubled as her home in a sprawling cemetery. Menna's parents and grandparents had made their home among the graves of the City of the Dead, the oldest necropolis in the Muslim world. For those unable to afford prohibitively high rents in Egypt's capital, the burial chambers provide shelter for thousands like her.
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| Michigan Gov. Whitmer met with Biden as running mate announcement nears Posted: 08 Aug 2020 08:10 AM PDT  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been said to still be among those under serious consideration for Biden's running mate.
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| Injured cruise ship worker ‘forgotten’ after seven months in South Florida hotels Posted: 09 Aug 2020 04:00 AM PDT  From behind the locked window of his 10th-floor hotel room, Paúl Córdova watches dozens of airplanes take off and land each day at Miami International Airport.
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| Vijayawada: Fire at Covid facility in India kills at least 10 Posted: 09 Aug 2020 02:40 AM PDT  The fire in the state of Andhra Pradesh is the second such blaze at a Covid facility in days.
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| Southern Baptists confront the church's history of racism and slaveholding. For some members, it's not enough. Posted: 08 Aug 2020 04:00 AM PDT  The cataclysmic death of George Floyd has pushed the Southern Baptist Convention's racial reconciliation efforts back into the spotlight.
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| Hillary Clinton says NYT writer had 'too much pot brownie' after forgetting her 2016 White House run Posted: 08 Aug 2020 09:56 AM PDT  Hillary Clinton roasted The New York Times and their columnist Maureen Dowd - for apparently forgetting that she ran on a mixed-gender presidential ticket in 2016.She joined a chorus of Twitter mockery after the paper's Opinion Twitter account posted a now-deleted message promoting Ms Dowd's latest column, which looked back at the Walter Mondale–Geraldine Ferraro ticket of 1984.
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| Journalists in southern Mexico 'live in terror' of gangs' violence Posted: 08 Aug 2020 06:46 PM PDT  Mexican journalist Julio Cesar Zubillaga shudders when his young daughter asks him why "they" want to kill him. Zubillaga helped prepare the corpse of Pablo Morrugares, a journalist with digital newspaper PM Noticias, after gunmen killed both him and the policeman guarding him in a restaurant in Iguala in southern Guerrero state.
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