| Biden hits back on Trump's attacks: 'Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters?' Posted: 31 Aug 2020 05:32 PM PDT  "Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting," Biden said. "It's lawlessness, plain and simple."
|
| Portland's police chief called out elected officials for not stopping violence in the city, after rioters threw burning debris at the mayor's apartment building Posted: 02 Sep 2020 04:33 AM PDT  Protests have been held nightly in the city since the police-involved killing of Black man George Floyd in Minnesota at the end of May.
|
| Duch: Symbol of Khmer Rouge horror Posted: 01 Sep 2020 07:55 PM PDT  How the former teacher Duch became the Khmer Rouge's jailer, executioner and a symbol of the regime's atrocities.
|
| Police: Teacher with far-right ties harassed health officer Posted: 01 Sep 2020 11:35 AM PDT  A California community college instructor with ties to the far-right, anti-government "boogaloo" movement was in custody on suspicion of sending two dozen misogynistic and threatening letters to a county health officer involving the coronavirus pandemic, authorities said Tuesday. Alan Viarengo, 55, was arrested last week and investigators seized 138 firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and explosive materials from his home in Gilroy, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said. Viarengo was charged with felony counts of stalking and threatening a public official after authorities said the letters were sent to county Health Director Dr. Sara Cody.
|
| 73-year-old woman uses American flag to defend family from intruder, Utah cops say Posted: 02 Sep 2020 07:27 AM PDT  "I whooped his a-- and I'll whoop it again."
|
| Thailand’s king reconciles with ousted wife Posted: 02 Sep 2020 05:51 AM PDT  Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn has reconciled with his royal consort, whom he stripped of her titles last year.
|
| Taiwan to change passport, fed up with confusion with China Posted: 01 Sep 2020 09:49 PM PDT  Fed up with being confused for China amid the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing's stepped-up efforts to assert sovereignty, Taiwan said on Wednesday it would redesign its passport to give greater prominence to the island's name. Taiwan has complained during the outbreak that its nationals have encountered problems entering other countries, as Taiwanese passports have the words "Republic of China", its formal name, written in large English font at the top, with "Taiwan" printed at the bottom. The new passport, to roll out in January, enlarges the word "Taiwan" in English and removes the large English words "Republic of China", though that name in Chinese and in small English font around the national emblem will remain.
|
| Alexander Lukashenko's notorious 'hitman' threatens Belarus protesters Posted: 01 Sep 2020 10:36 AM PDT  A policeman accused of acting as chief hitman to Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has emerged from "retirement" to intimidate anti-government protesters. Dmitri Pavlichenko, the former head of an elite police unit, was sanctioned by the European Union in 2004 for allegedly running a death squad that organised the killing of four of Mr Lukashenko's political opponents. He has denied involvement in the killings, said to have been carried out with a silenced pistol normally used for judicial executions in one of Belarus's jails. After last month's disputed elections, he is understood to have been brought back into service, directing riot police who beat and arrested protesters in the days that followed. Last week, he also delivered a speech on the streets of the capital, Minsk, denouncing the opposition as "mercenaries and criminals". "Sadly some of them, boozy and drugged up, began to destroy our city!" he declared. "Riot police and special forces came to the defence."
|
| 2 new post-RNC polls show Biden with a lead of 7-8 points Posted: 02 Sep 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Two reputable national polls released Wednesday suggest different trajectories for the presidential race, but agree on where it stands at the end of both main political conventions, as the start of the final sprint to Nov. 3. A poll from Grinnell College and Selzer & Co. shows Democrat Joe Biden with an 8-percentage-point national lead over President Trump, 49 percent to 41 percent — an improvement from Biden's 4-point lead in March. A Suffolk University/USA Today poll shows Biden up by 7 points, 50 percent to 43 percent, which is much narrower than his 12-point advantage in June."Beyond the overall 8-point advantage, this poll shows some areas of underlying strength for the former vice president," said pollster J. Ann Selzer. "Biden holds a wide lead with moderates, 55-33 percent, who are a plurality of the electorate; he benefits from a 10-point lead among independents, who do not lean toward any political party, 44-34 percent." Biden also has a 2-to-1 lead over Trump among suburban women, 64 percent to 31 percent, while Trump flips those numbers among white men without college degrees.David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk Political Research Center, gauged that "Biden is no better off at this point" than Hillary Clinton was in 2016. "Hillary was more polarizing and less likable than Biden in terms of the favorable/unfavorable ratings," he said. "However, Clinton had more enthusiasm than Biden does today, which makes the analysis a bit dicey." Clinton went on to win the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots but lost the Electoral College. If the election were held today, though, Biden would win both, Selzer projected.> New Grinnell/Selzer poll shows Biden up by 8 points.> > Here's how that translates into electoral votes. ElectionTwitter pic.twitter.com/YzYKUeIaTZ> > — Plural Vote (@plural_vote) September 2, 2020The Grinnell/Selzer poll interviewed 827 likely voters by phone Aug. 26-30, and its margin of error is ±3.4 percentage points. The USA Today/Suffolk poll reached 1,000 registered voters by phone Aug. 28-31, and it has a margin of error of ±3.1 points. RealClearPolitics shows Biden with an average 6.5-point lead, 49.6 percent to 43.1 percent, while FiveThirtyEight has Biden up 7.3 points, 50.5 percent to 43.2 percent. Polls typical tighten as the election nears.More stories from theweek.com The owner of a destroyed Kenosha store refused to meet with Trump. So Trump replaced him with a former owner. Harry and Meghan sign production deal with Netflix Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump told her to 'take one for the team' after Kim Jong Un seemingly winked at her
|
| Spurned by allies, Saudi rethinks chequebook diplomacy Posted: 01 Sep 2020 07:53 PM PDT  From Pakistan to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia is scaling back its famed chequebook diplomacy, a longstanding policy of splashing petro-dollars in exchange for influence, which observers say has yielded few tangible gains.
|
| India bans PUBG, Baidu and more than 100 apps linked to China Posted: 02 Sep 2020 07:00 AM PDT  The list of forbidden products includes the popular video game PUBG and search giant Baidu's app.
|
| 2 pythons weighing 100 pounds collapse ceiling in Australia Posted: 01 Sep 2020 07:05 AM PDT  An Australian returned home and was surprised to discover that his kitchen ceiling had collapsed under the weight of two large pythons apparently fighting over a mate. David Tait entered his home in Laceys Creek in Queensland state on Monday and found a large chunk of his ceiling lying on his kitchen table. "I knew we hadn't had rain, so I looked around to find what had caused it," Tait told Nine Network television on Tuesday.
|
| Black jogger mistaken for suspect in Texas has all charges dismissed after arrest Posted: 01 Sep 2020 02:22 PM PDT  The district attorney dropped the case against insurance adjuster Mathias Ometu after last week's confrontation with San Antonio police.
|
| Feds seek to remove wolves from endangered species protection Posted: 02 Sep 2020 09:39 AM PDT  Federal wildlife officials aim to remove endangered species protections for gray wolves across the U.S. this year.
|
| Russia released secret footage of history's largest man-made explosion — a nuclear blast thousands of times stronger than Hiroshima Posted: 01 Sep 2020 03:09 PM PDT  The blast was equivalent to 50 megatons of TNT — nearly 1,500 times more powerful than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined.
|
| State Department imposes restrictions on Chinese diplomats in the U.S. Posted: 02 Sep 2020 08:55 AM PDT  Senior Chinese diplomats in the U.S. will be required to receive approval to visit college campuses or meet with local government officials.
|
| New protests in Belarus as opposition squabbles, U.S. weighs sanctions Posted: 01 Sep 2020 02:27 AM PDT  Lukashenko faces the biggest challenge of his 26-year rule since claiming victory in an election last month that opponents say was rigged. Lukashenko denies electoral fraud and shows no sign of backing down despite the threat of Western sanctions. In a rare public reproach, Lukashenko's main challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, issued a statement criticising the strategy of another opposition group with which she formed an alliance during the election campaign.
|
| 'We don't have a family pastor': Jacob Blake's father disputes Trump's account of trying to reach the family Posted: 31 Aug 2020 06:07 PM PDT  The family lawyer later said the president reached out to Jacob Blake's mother's pastor and declined to have a call if their legal team monitored it.
|
| Cheng Lei: Why has an Australian TV anchor been detained by China? Posted: 01 Sep 2020 06:04 PM PDT  The disappearance of high-profile presenter Cheng Lei has shocked her family and strained relations.
|
| Confusion over eviction ban led to selective enforcement Posted: 02 Sep 2020 06:51 AM PDT  Yochebed Israel was the kind of person Congress had in mind when it voted in March to impose a temporary moratorium on many evictions as the coronavirus spread. First, the furnace in her Tampa, Florida, apartment broke and her electric bill rose above $460 a month for five months. This story was supported by grants from the Pulitzer Center, the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Park Foundation.
|
| Miami Democrat wants gun dealers held responsible for suspected straw purchases Posted: 01 Sep 2020 12:37 PM PDT  A new bill from Miami Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell would make gun dealers responsible for identifying when customers are purchasing a weapon for someone else and halting the transaction.
|
| Louisiana governor wary of COVID-19 spike as displaced Laura victims scatter across state Posted: 02 Sep 2020 09:04 AM PDT  Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said it could be at least three weeks before power is restored in the hardest hit areas of the storm.
|
| FBI Reports Chicago Gangs Have Formed Pact to Shoot Cops ‘On Sight’ Posted: 01 Sep 2020 11:13 AM PDT  A federal intelligence alert from the FBI field office in Chicago, Ill., warned that about 30 gangs in the city have made a pact to shoot police officers if they draw their weapons in public, ABC 7 reported on Monday.Intelligence alerts are frequently distributed to law enforcement officials, especially if the alerts involve threats to an officer's safety. This particular alert was based on "a contact whose reporting is limited and whose reliability cannot be determined," meaning a street source, witness, or information obtained through surveillance.The alert states that Chicago gangs have agreed to "shoot on-sight any cop that has a weapon drawn on any subject in public.""Members of these gang factions have been actively searching for, and filming, police officers in performance of their official duties," the alert continues. "The purpose of which is to catch on film an officer drawing his/her weapon on any subject and the subsequent 'shoot on-sight' of said officer, in order to garner national media attention."In early August, mobs of people staged what appeared to be a coordinated spate of looting and vandalism at Chicago's Magnificent Mile, a stretch of high-end businesses in the city's downtown. The looting occurred after police shot and arrested a suspect in the Englewood neighborhood. The looting was reportedly prompted by a rumor, which went viral on social media, that the cops had shot and killed a child, when in fact they had injured a 20-year-old man.Chicago has seen a rise in murders and shootings since the death of George Floyd earlier this year, a surge in violence likely compounded by economic dislocation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a rise in anti-police sentiment, which has reportedly led police in many cities to adopt less aggressive tactics. There were 2,749 shooting victims in the city as of Monday, up 917 from the same period last year.Chicago police superintendent David Brown, who started his position several weeks before the Floyd protests, said on Monday that "a sense of lawlessness" has been observed by officers on the street. Brown also noted that the dangers for officers have dramatically increased."I think 51 officers being shot at or shot in one year, I think that quadruples any previous year in Chicago's history," Brown said. "So I think it's more than a suggestion that people are seeking to do harm to cops."
|
| GOP Rep. Bragged About Postal Service Rescue, Didn’t Support It Posted: 01 Sep 2020 01:37 AM PDT  Like nearly every member of Congress, Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) has received a deluge of calls, emails, and letters from his constituents over the past month asking about recent delays and service cuts at the U.S. Postal Service.In his mailed responses to constituents' concerns, two of which were reviewed by The Daily Beast, Garcia touts a pair of bills: the HEROES Act and the Moving Forward Act, both of which passed the U.S. House this summer. Garcia's prominent reference to the postal legislation's generous funding of the USPS, and their provisions for "modernizing" the agency, leave the reasonable impression that he is offering the bills up to constituents as a possible solution to the issues facing the Postal Service—or, even, that he supported them. The only problem: he did not. That fact is omitted from his letters.A former U.S. Navy fighter pilot, Garcia is among the newest members of Congress. On May 13, he won a hotly contested special election to represent California's 25th District, a battleground seat that encompasses the suburbs to the north of Los Angeles. Two days later, the House voted to approve the HEROES Act, a sweeping, $3 trillion stimulus bill to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, which also included $25 billion in emergency funding for the USPS. Garcia did not have the chance to vote on the HEROES Act—he would be sworn into office on May 19—but all of his fellow GOP colleagues to-be, save for one, voted against the legislation. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the House GOP leader, routinely described the bill as a bloated vehicle for Democrats' alleged push to "enforce their socialism." Then, in July, the House voted to approve the Moving Forward Act, a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that appropriated another $25 billion for USPS investments in "modernizing postal infrastructure and operations, processing equipment, and other goods," as Garcia describes it. He noted to constituents that the legislation passed the House and awaits consideration in the U.S. Senate.But on July 1, only three House Republicans voted with Democrats to pass the bill; Garcia was not one of them. A press release from Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, of which Garcia is a member, argued that the bill "disguises a heavy-handed and unworkable Green New Deal regime of new requirements as an 'infrastructure bill.'"A spokesperson for Garcia did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast about why the congressman was referencing bills he did not support in response to constituent concerns about the USPS, or if the congressman now supported either of those bills.The freshman Republican's muddled messaging on the Postal Service is reflective of the political bind facing some in the GOP. But while Garcia floats solutions he actually did not himself back, other House Republicans have responded to the public outcry over mail delays by breaking with their party's official line that USPS concerns amount to a Democratic "conspiracy theory."On Aug. 22, the House convened in a rare, late-summer Saturday session to consider a bill that would roll back recent service changes implemented at the USPS by the new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy. Most Republicans denounced the bill in strong terms as a political ploy from Democrats. "Like the Russia hoax and impeachment sham, the Democrats have manufactured another scandal for political purposes," said Rep. James Comer (R-KY) during debate on the House floor.But the legislation passed with the support of 26 House Republicans—an unusually high number in the House on such charged bills—who joined all Democrats in voting yes. Garcia was not one of them. The operational reforms, made by USPS leadership in the name of efficiency and fiscal viability, led to delays in medication, food, and other supplies that were felt by residents in Garcia's district as much as anywhere in the country. On Aug. 19, the local radio station KHTS reported that eight mail sorting machines—a target of recent USPS initiatives—were dismantled over the summer in the Santa Clarita Valley, which comprises the central part of the 25th District. The area accounted for nearly 9 percent of the total number of sorting machines that were taken offline in the entire state of California. In a statement to the Ventura County Star ahead of the Aug. 22 vote, Garcia said that providing an additional $25 billion to the USPS—the very sum he mentioned in his previous letters to constituents—would be unnecessary. "I believe that we, as elected representatives of the people, have an obligation and a responsibility to safeguard taxpayer dollars," Garcia said. "While I cannot support this superfluous legislation, I continue to support and stand with the men and women of the USPS who are entrusted with our nation's mail."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.
|
| Saudi Arabia sentences seven Islamist militants to death over killings of Shi'ites Posted: 02 Sep 2020 05:34 AM PDT |
| Trump thinks violence and chaos on the streets is good for his reelection, and he's not trying to hide it Posted: 31 Aug 2020 01:52 PM PDT  Trump is apparently willing to watch America burn, as long as it helps keep him in the White House for another four years.
|
| Coronavirus in South Africa: 'Frightening' findings of Covid-19 funds audit Posted: 02 Sep 2020 08:40 AM PDT  South Africa's auditor general finds authorities paying five times the recommended price for PPE.
|
| Philippine court orders US Marine's early release in killing Posted: 02 Sep 2020 06:17 AM PDT |
| What’s Walmart+? Here’s what to know about the membership program — and when it starts Posted: 01 Sep 2020 06:04 AM PDT  Walmart+ will soon make its debut.
|
| Mediterranean frenemies face off: Greece, Turkey at ‘the abyss’ Posted: 01 Sep 2020 11:17 AM PDT |
| Tug responding to Mauritius oil spill sinks; 3 sailors dead Posted: 01 Sep 2020 09:38 AM PDT  The oil spill disaster off Mauritius turned deadly this week when a tugboat leaving the shipwreck collided with a barge and sank, killing at least three sailors, police said Tuesday. The tug was towing the empty barge from the stranded hull of the Japanese ship, the MV Wakashio, on Monday night when heavy seas rammed the barge into the tug. Four sailors were rescued and one is missing, said Mauritius police constable Jordan Jason Sunasy.
|
| Indian special forces member killed in China border showdown Posted: 01 Sep 2020 12:45 PM PDT  A Tibetan-origin soldier with India's special forces was killed in the latest border showdown with Chinese troops on their contested Himalayan border, a Tibetan representative said Tuesday.
|
| Solomons province pushes for independence in 'China switch' fallout Posted: 01 Sep 2020 07:36 PM PDT |
| Lara Trump Campaigns for Bigoted Conspiracy Theorist Laura Loomer in Florida Posted: 02 Sep 2020 08:54 AM PDT  President Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump knocked on doors in Florida on Tuesday for Laura Loomer, the bigoted conspiracy theorist and notorious internet troll vying for a seat in Congress.Before she won the Republican primary in Florida's deeply-blue 21st District, Loomer was most famous for chaining herself to Twitter's front door while wearing a yellow Star of David, spreading conspiracy theories about the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, being permanently banned from Uber Eats for calling for an Uber without a Muslim driver, and bragging about being a ProudIslamophobe.None of that has discouraged Trump campaign surrogate Lara Trump from hopping aboard the Loomer train.> Trump campaign's Lara Trump campaigned with Laura Loomer yesterday in FL https://t.co/9y1GdZZz9y pic.twitter.com/lahenU4T7j> > — Will Steakin (@wsteaks) September 2, 2020Lara Trump, wife to Eric Trump and a Trump 2020 campaign surrogate, was photographed with Loomer and several volunteers "knocking doors, making calls, and training new volunteers—all to spread the President's record of success with their fellow Floridians," according to a Tuesday tweet by Trump campaign deputy national press secretary Courtney Parella.It marked the furthest Trumpworld has gone to support Loomer, and the first time it has publicly thrown its resources and star power behind Loomer's outsider campaign—after President Trump congratulated her on Twitter for her primary win last month.(After Loomer raised a massive $1.1 million for her primary campaign, the Trump campaign also used her list of campaign donors for their own fundraiser, according to Mediaite.)Beyond her many instances of Islamophobia, Loomer has also praised and appeared with Canadian white nationalist and Holocaust denier Faith Goldy, and made racist comments about Latinos. She has been banned from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Uber Eats, and Lyft.Nevertheless, the Florida GOP and the Trump campaign have embraced her congressional bid. Loomer's campaign director, Karen Giorno, ran Trump's 2016 Florida operations. And her campaign was backed by a grab bag of Trumpy nutbags like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, convicted criminal Roger Stone, and washed up internet troll Milo Yiannopoulos. She has tried to capitalize on media reporting of her bigoted remarks, sending out a fundraising email this week that said, "The liberal media is ON FIRE with hate over Laura Loomer and is deploying typical Alinsky tactics in their desperation to defeat her."Loomer faces an uphill battle in Florida's 21st District, where the incumbent, Democrat Lois Frankel, holds a healthy margin. —with additional reporting by Will SommerRead 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.
|
| Amazon's drone program was cleared by the FAA — take a look at the machines it wants to use to deliver Prime packages to your doorstep Posted: 02 Sep 2020 05:37 AM PDT  The Federal Aviation Administration granted permission for Amazon to begin delivery drone operations.
|
| Why the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' is still pushed by anti-Semites more than a century after hoax first circulated Posted: 02 Sep 2020 05:20 AM PDT  An anti-Semitic hoax more than a century old reared its ugly head again as the Republican National Convention was underway last week.Mary Ann Mendoza, a member of the advisory board of President Trump's reelection campaign, was due to speak on Aug. 25. But she was suddenly pulled from the schedule after she had retweeted a link to a conspiracy theory about Jewish elites plotting to take over the world.In her now-deleted tweet, Mendoza urged her roughly 40,000 followers to read a lengthy thread that warned of a plan to enslave the "goyim," or non-Jews. It included fevered denunciations of the historically wealthy Jewish family, the Rothschilds, as well as the top target of right-wing extremism today, the liberal Jewish philanthropist George Soros.The thread also made reference to one of the most notorious hoaxes in modern history: "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." As a scholar of American Jewish history, I know how durable this document has been as a source of the belief in Jewish conspiracies. The fact that it is still making the rounds within the fringe precincts of the political right today is testament to the longevity of this fabrication. Fake newsSurely no outright forgery in modern history has ever proved itself more durable. In the early 20th century, the Protocols were concocted by Tsarist police known as the Okhrana, drawing upon an obscure 1868 German novel, "Biarritz," in which mysterious Jewish leaders meet in a Prague cemetery.This fictional cabal aspires for power over entire nations through currency manipulation and seeks ideological domination by disseminating fake news. In the novel, the Devil listens sympathetically to the reports that representatives of the tribes of Israel present, describing the havoc and subversion that they have wrought, and the destruction that is yet to come.The Okhrana – "protection" in Russian – worked for what was then the most powerful anti-Semitic regime in Europe and wanted to use the hoax to discredit revolutionary forces hostile to the reactionary policies and religious mysticism of Tsarist rule.The document became a global phenomenon only about two decades after the Okhrana's fabrication. Widespread publication and republication coincided with both the influenza pandemic of 1918-20 and the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 – both of which stirred fears of obscure forces that menaced social control. Scapegoating Jews for disease and political unrest was nothing new. Medieval Jews had been massacred in the wake of accusations of having poisoned wells and spreading plagues. But a century ago, the crisis in public health probably mattered less than the Communists' seizure of power in Russia, which, if unchecked, might overwhelm the political order that the Great War had destabilized. That some of the revolutionary leaders were of Jewish birth seemed to reinforce the predictions of the Protocols. Tsar Nicholas II, the last of the Romanovs, was known to have read the Protocols before being executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. In the following year, Hitler delivered his first recorded speech, in which he depicted an international conspiracy of Jews – of all Jews – to weaken and poison the Aryan race and to extinguish German culture. Hitler himself was unsure of the authenticity of the Protocols – a question of verification that may not have mattered all that much to the Nazis. The Führer told one of his early associates that the Protocols were "immensely instructive" in exposing what the Jews could accomplish in terms of "political intrigue," and in demonstrating their skill at "deception [and] organization." 'Americanized' conspiracyIn the U.S., the hoax was given a wide distribution by the most admired businessman of his time: Henry Ford. By 1920, Ford had "Americanized" the forged document as "The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem." It ran as excerpts in his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, for 91 straight weeks. "The International Jew" was translated into 16 languages. Though Jewish communal leadership mounted a lawsuit that forced the auto magnate to issue a retraction in 1927, the malignant hatred behind the Protocols continued to seep into the public conversation.In the 1930s, the popular anti-New Deal "radio priest" Charles E. Coughlin excerpted the Protocols in his newspaper, Social Justice. But Father Coughlin was wary about endorsing its accuracy, and merely stated that it might be of "interest" to his readers. History as conspiracyWhy is it that this demonstrably false document continues to hold sway today? Perhaps the simplest explanation is human irrationality, which neither education nor enlightenment has ever managed to defeat.The willingness to believe in the fantasy of a surreptitious Jewish stranglehold on the international economy and on mass media also validates the insight of the Columbia University historian Richard Hofstadter. He traced in political extremism of both right and left an apocalyptic strain and a belief in an imminent confrontation between good and absolute evil.Hofstadter was well aware that conspiracies punctuate the annals of the past. But especially for those Americans who hanker for the security of a settled way of life, political paranoia is tempting, such as the belief – as Hofstadter wrote – that "history is a conspiracy," in which unseen forces are the shadowy driving mechanisms of human destiny.Because anti-Semitism has survived nearly a couple of millennia, no form of prejudice has yet found a more vivid place in the imagination. And the fact that no international Jewish conspiracy was ever located has never depleted the power of the Protocols to tap into subterranean currents of demonization. From the Rothschilds to SorosWhat sustains the influence of the Protocols among cranks and extremists is not the language of the text itself – which few of them are likely to have fully read in its various versions – but what this forgery purports to underscore, which is the astonishingly cunning influence of Jews in modern history.The Protocols thus have no importance in themselves; they are spurious. But they do bestow precision upon apocalyptic fears, which could not survive without some ingredient of plausibility – however wildly far-fetched.[Get our best science, health and technology stories. Sign up for The Conversation's science newsletter.]The Rothschild family was pivotal to the emergence of finance capitalism in 19th-century Europe. The family firm had branches in Germany, France, Austria, Italy and England, which lent credence to the charge of "cosmopolitanism" during an era of rising nationalism. The boom-and-bust oscillations of the economy generated not only misery but also grievances against financiers who seemed to benefit from such uncertainties. Today, Soros, a Hungarian-born, British-educated American Jew, has become an especially hated figure for the far-right. Among the world's canniest investors, he has spent billions of dollars promoting progressive causes. He seems to personify what Ford called "the international Jew."Venom against minorities other than Jews has not resulted in any equivalent to the Protocols. Judeophobia produced a specious documentation that bigotry against no other minority has ever elicited. Perhaps the very explicitness of the Protocols helps strengthen the suspicion that majority beliefs and interests are under attack, and keeps this dangerous form of anti-Semitism alive.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Anti-Semitism in the US today is a variation on an old theme * America's dark history of organized anti-Semitism re-emerges in today's far-right groupsStephen Whitfield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
|
| Facing rape charge, DJ Erick Morillo found dead in Miami Beach home. Cops probing overdose Posted: 01 Sep 2020 12:15 PM PDT  Less than one month after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman, a famous Miami Beach DJ was found dead inside his home.
|
| Pentagon intensifies China operation with waterway flyovers Posted: 01 Sep 2020 07:49 AM PDT  The Trump administration is intensifying a challenge to China's ruling Communist Party and its sweeping territorial claims over some of the world's most important strategic waterways.
|
| Detroit turns island park into COVID-19 memorial garden Posted: 31 Aug 2020 02:15 PM PDT  A Detroit island park was transformed Monday into a drive-thru COVID-19 victims memorial as policy makers across the U.S. moved forward with plans to reopen schools and public spaces. Hearses led processions around Belle Isle Park in the Detroit River, where more than 900 large photos of local coronavirus victims provided by relatives were turned into posters and staked into the ground. As the death toll continued to rise around the world, officials announced plans to bring children back to school in Rhode Island, allow diners back inside New Jersey restaurants and let fans watch football inside an Iowa college stadium.
|
| Broiling heat wave expected in California Posted: 01 Sep 2020 10:42 PM PDT  California's last heat wave, less than three weeks ago, coincided with two of the state's three largest fires.
|
| North Korean troops, vehicles seen preparing for huge parade, U.S. think-tank says Posted: 01 Sep 2020 07:14 PM PDT |
| Trump continues claiming someone he knows saw plane 'loaded with thugs' Posted: 01 Sep 2020 09:54 AM PDT  For the second time, President Trump claimed without evidence that a plane filled with left-wing agitators had traveled within the U.S.
|
| Electoral college explained: how Biden faces an uphill battle in the US election Posted: 01 Sep 2020 11:30 PM PDT  Trump won the presidency in 2016 despite Clinton receiving almost 3m more votes, all because of the electoral college. How does the system work? Who elects the US president?When Americans cast their ballots for the US president, they are actually voting for a representative of that candidate's party known as an elector. There are 538 electors who then vote for the president on behalf of the people in their state.Each state is assigned a certain number of these electoral votes, based on the number of congressional districts they have, plus two additional votes representing the state's Senate seats. Washington DC is also assigned three electoral votes, despite having no voting representation in Congress. A majority of 270 of these votes is needed to win the presidency.The process of nominating electors varies by state and by party, but is generally done one of two ways. Ahead of the election, political parties either choose electors at their national conventions, or they are voted for by the party's central committee.The electoral college nearly always operates with a winner-takes-all system, in which the candidate with the highest number of votes in a state claims all of that state's electoral votes. For example, in 2016, Trump beat Clinton in Florida by a margin of just 2.2%, but that meant he claimed all 29 of Florida's crucial electoral votes.Such small margins in a handful of key swing states meant that, regardless of Clinton's national vote lead, Trump was able to clinch victory in several swing states and therefore win more electoral college votes. Biden could face the same hurdle in November, meaning he will need to focus his attention on a handful of battleground states to win the presidency.A chart showing electoral college votes by state The unequal distribution of electoral votesWhile the number of electoral votes a state is assigned somewhat reflects its population, the minimum of three votes per state means that the relative value of electoral votes varies across America.The least populous states like North and South Dakota and the smaller states of New England are overrepresented because of the required minimum of three electoral votes. Meanwhile, the states with the most people – California, Texas and Florida – are underrepresented in the electoral college. Wyoming has one electoral college vote for every 193,000 people, compared with California's rate of one electoral vote per 718,000 people. This means that each electoral vote in California represents over three times as many people as one in Wyoming. These disparities are repeated across the country.A visual of population per electoral vote by state Who does it favour?Experts have warned that, after returning two presidents that got fewer votes than their opponents since 2000, the electoral college is flawed. In 2000, Al Gore won over half a million more votes than Bush, yet Bush became president after winning Florida by just 537 votes.A chart showing recent election outcomes by popular vote and electoral college marginsProfessor George Edwards III, at Texas A&M University, said: "The electoral college violates the core tenet of democracy, that all votes count equally and allows the candidate finishing second to win the election. Why hold an election if we do not care who received the most votes?"At the moment, the electoral college favours Republicans because of the way Republican votes are distributed across the country. They are more likely to occur in states that are closely divided between the parties."Under the winner-takes-all system, the margin of victory in a state becomes irrelevant. In 2016, Clinton's substantial margins in states such as California and New York failed to earn her enough electoral votes, while close races in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Michigan took Trump over the 270 majority.A visual showing margins and electoral votes by state gained by Trump and Clinton in 2016As candidates easily win the electoral votes of their solid states, the election plays out in a handful of key battlegrounds. In 2016, Trump won six such states - Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – adding 99 electoral votes to his total. The demographics of these states differ from the national average. They are older, have more white voters without college degrees, and often have smaller non-white populations. These characteristics generally favour Republicans, and made up the base of Trump's votes in 2016.For example, 67% of non-college-educated white people voted for Trump in 2016. In all six swing states, this demographic is overrepresented by at least six percentage points more than the national average. default The alternativesSeveral alternative systems for electing the president have been proposed and grown in favour, as many seek to change or abolish the electoral college.Two states – Maine and Nebraska – already use a different method of assigning their electoral college votes. The two "Senate" votes go to the state-wide popular vote winner, but the remaining district votes are awarded to the winner of that district. However, implementing this congressional district method across the country could result in greater bias than the current system. The popular vote winner could still lose the election, and the distribution of voters would still strongly favour Republicans. The National Popular Vote Compact (NPVC) is another option, in which each state would award all of its electoral college votes in line with the national popular vote. If enough states signed up to this agreement to reach the 270 majority, the candidate who gained the most votes nationwide would always win the presidency. However, the NPVC has more practical issues. Professor Norman Williams, from Willamette University, questioned how a nationwide recount would be carried out under the NPVC, and said that partisanship highlighted its major flaws. Only Democratic states are currently signed up, but support could simply switch in the future if a Republican candidate faces winning the popular vote but not the presidency.The NPVC is a solution that would elect the president with the most votes without the difficulty of abolishing the electoral college that is enshrined in the constitution. In 1787, the Founding Fathers could not decide on the best system to elect the president. Some delegates opposed a straight nomination by Congress, while others wanted to limit the influence of a potentially uninformed public and the power a populist candidate could have with a direct popular vote. The resulting electoral college, with electors acting as intermediaries for their states, is their compromise. This system also invoked a clause known as the three-fifths compromise between northern and southern delegates, as they debated how slavery would affect a state's representation. Their agreement was that three-fifths of enslaved individuals (who could not vote) would count towards a state's population, awarding a disproportionate amount of power in the electoral college to the southern states. While the 13th amendment which abolished slavery in effect removed the three-fifths clause, the impacts of an unbalanced electoral college with unequal representation remain. The current system is still vulnerable to distorted outcomes through actions such as gerrymandering. This practice involves precisely redrawing the borders of districts to concentrate support in favour of a party. The result being abnormally shaped districts that disenfranchise certain groups of voters.Today, an amendment that would replace the college with a direct national popular vote is seen by many as the fairest electoral system.According to Professor Edwards III, "There is only one appropriate way to elect the president: add up all the votes and declare the candidate receiving the most votes the winner."default
|
| Police use footage from Amazon's Ring doorbells for investigations, but leaked documents reveal the FBI is concerned that homeowners could spy on officers Posted: 01 Sep 2020 01:29 PM PDT  Motion-detection cameras could also show officers' locations in a standoff or compromise officer safety, the FBI report said.
|
| Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on September 2 Posted: 02 Sep 2020 06:27 AM PDT  We're keeping track of the latest news regarding the coronavirus in South Florida and around the state. Check back for updates throughout the day.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment