| Trump on Supreme Court vacancy: 'When you have the votes, you can sort of do what you want' Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:26 AM PDT  The president on Monday defended the Republican plan to bring his pick to replace the Supreme Court vacancy left by Ruth Bader Ginsburg to a vote so close to an election, even though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to do the same in 2016.
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| Archaeologists unearth 27 coffins at Egypt's Saqqara pyramid Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:52 AM PDT  Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed more than two dozen ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo, an official said Monday. The sarcophagi have remained unopened since they were buried more than 2,500 years ago near the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, said Neveine el-Arif, a spokeswomen for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Footage shared by the ministry showed colorful sarcophagi decorated with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, as well as other artifacts the ministry said were found in the two wells.
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| Outcry after store employee says he was fired for stopping purse thief in Vermont Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:45 AM PDT  "Hey, an old lady's purse just got stolen. I want to do something about it," Amir Shedyak said.
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| Norfolk Shipyard CO Is 4th Navy Leader to Be Fired in a Month Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:51 PM PDT  Capt. Kai Torkelson was relieved of command Monday by Vice Adm. Bill Galinis.
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| Black Lives Matter Removes Language about Disrupting the Nuclear Family from Website Posted: 21 Sep 2020 11:56 AM PDT  The official Black Lives Matter website no longer includes language encouraging the "disruption" of the "Western-prescribed nuclear family structure."The language had been featured on the site's "What We Believe" page, in which the group had laid out its support for various extreme policies and ideals that went beyond police reform and brutality. Attempts to access the page now yield a message that reads, "Page Not Found. Sorry, but the page you were trying to view does not exist," the Washington Examiner first discovered on Monday.The page had described the group as a "global Black family" that engages "comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts," according to an archive."We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work 'double shifts' so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work," the organization wrote. "We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages' that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable."The website still features an "About" page that explains the origin of the organization — it was founded in 2013 after the death of Trayvon Martin — and features a shorter list of its goals. The "About" page says the group's mission "is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.""We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum," the page reads."We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise," it adds.The organization has received criticism for its extremist views, including co-founder Patrisse Cullors 2015 admission that she and her fellow co-founders are "trained Marxists.""I actually do think we have an ideological frame. We are trained Marxists," Cullors said.
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| Humpback whale swims free after getting stranded in Australian crocodile-infested river Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:55 AM PDT  A humpback whale has found its way back to sea weeks after getting lost in a murky, crocodile-infested river in northern Australia. In the southern part of the country, an estimated 270 pilot whales were stranded.
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| Why We’re Never Buying Rectangular Rugs Again Posted: 21 Sep 2020 11:32 AM PDT |
| Real estate tycoon and critic of China's President Xi Jinping jailed for 18 years Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:56 PM PDT  The former chairman of a state-owned real estate company who publicly criticised President Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus pandemic was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday on corruption charges, a court announced. Ren Zhiqiang, who became known for speaking up about censorship and other sensitive topics, disappeared from public view in March after publishing an essay online that accused Mr Xi of mishandling the outbreak that began in December in the central city of Wuhan. Mr Xi, party leader since 2012, has suppressed criticism, tightened censorship and cracked down on unofficial organisations. Dozens of journalists, labour and human rights activists and others have been imprisoned. Mr Ren, 69, was convicted of corruption, bribery, embezzlement of public funds and abuse of power, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court announced on its social media account. It cited Mr Ren as saying he wouldn't appeal. The former chairman and deputy party secretary of Huayuan Group was expelled from the ruling party in July. In a commentary that circulated on social media, Mr Ren criticised a Feb. 23 video conference with 170,000 officials held early in the pandemic at which Mr Xi announced orders for responding to the disease. Mr Ren didn't mention Mr Xi's name but said, "standing there was not an emperor showing off his new clothes but a clown who had stripped off his clothes and insisted on being an emperor". Mr Ren criticised propaganda that portrayed Mr Xi and other leaders as rescuing China from the disease without mentioning where it began and possible mistakes including suppressing information at the start of the outbreak. "People did not see any criticism at the conference. It didn't investigate and disclose the truth," Mr Ren wrote, according to a copy published by China Digital Times, a website in California. "No one reviewed or took responsibility. But they are trying to cover up the truth with all kinds of great achievements." Mr Ren had an early military career and his parents were both former high officials in the Communist party. Some called him a princeling, a term for offspring of the founders of the communist government, a group that includes Mr Xi. He appeared to have crossed a political line by criticising Mr Xi's personal leadership.
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| Biden news: Former VP says he is worried Americans are at risk of becoming numb to the coronavirus death toll Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:05 PM PDT  Follow the latest updates
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| Nasa outlines plan for first woman on Moon by 2024 Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:38 AM PDT  The US space agency (Nasa) formally outlines its $28bn plan to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024.
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| Army gives green light to shape vehicle electrification requirements Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:56 AM PDT  The Army has been given the go-ahead to develop requirements to provide electric power to tactical and combat vehicles.
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| SCOTUS Battle Pours Lighter Fluid on South Carolina’s Senate Race Posted: 22 Sep 2020 01:36 AM PDT  Most everyone following the heated U.S. Senate contest in South Carolina recognizes that the opening of a U.S. Supreme Court seat—six weeks before Election Day—has shifted the balance of the race.Which candidate will ultimately benefit, though, depends on who you ask.Sen. Lindsey Graham was already facing a determined challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death last Friday. Less than a day later, Graham officially discarded his stance from 2016 that high court appointments shouldn't be made in an election year—and fully embraced his role as President Donald Trump's warrior in securing a third Supreme Court justice.The dramatic turn of events has already drawn passionate reactions on both sides of the aisle as the South Carolina race, once in the long shot column for Democrats, enters a critical stretch.Top officials from both parties in South Carolina were quick to believe Graham's approach was actually helping their respective candidate's chances in November, as control of the Senate lies in the balance."This issue is going to be nothing but a plus for (Graham's) campaign," South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick said."Sen. Graham is basically digging his own grave by siding with Trump on every single issue" said Kenneth Glover, the chairman of the Orangeburg County Democratic Party. "He's lost his independence."Some Democrats see two big opportunities with Graham's high court machinations under the microscope. One is a chance to galvanize South Carolina's Black voters—who Harrison will need to turn out in historic numbers to secure a win—with a laser-like framing of the stakes of the race on core issues like health care, voting rights, and racial justice, all issues in which the court has disproportionate impact.And the party also sees opportunity in replaying Graham's words from 2016—when he defended blocking Barack Obama's pick for the high court until the November election—over and over again on the TV airwaves with the tens of millions of dollars Harrison has raised so far. Even more money is likely to flow to Harrison from a national liberal base outraged by Graham's moves.While the senator has explained away his 2016 declarations, some Democrats believe that the hypocrisy of Graham's statements will be clear enough to peel away a number of independent or even GOP-leaning voters.Whether that sentiment is strong enough to help tilt a Senate seat in a more conservative state to the Democratic column, though, remains unclear—and Democratic party officials recognize the challenge."That's my impression, that this is the nail in Lindsey Graham's coffin and if we ever had a chance to flip this is it, this has done it," said Debbie Smith, the chair of the Georgetown County Democratic Party, said about the state of the Senate race. "I've been wrong before."But other Democrats watching the race agree that while a court fight doesn't entirely favor Graham, it still gives the incumbent an undeniable advantage in South Carolina, where Democratic candidates have long struggled to crack 45 percent of the vote statewide. "Lindsey Graham brings out every one of Donald Trump's supporters and he wins," said a Democratic operative. "If this does that, it's not a net gain for Jaime… Graham doesn't have to appeal to any Democrats."The Harrison campaign declined to comment on how Graham's stance on the open Supreme Court seat was impacting the race. The Graham campaign did not respond to an email seeking comment Monday night.As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Graham will run any confirmation hearing for a Trump pick. If that hearing happens before the election, or in the so-called "lame duck" session in the weeks after the Nov. 3 election, it ensures Graham's place in the center of the wall-to-wall media coverage that accompanies a high court confirmation battle.It also guarantees fresh relevance for his past statements and moves on judicial appointments. Only hours after Ginsburg's death was announced, clips began to circulate on social media showing Graham defending Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) decision to block Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the high court following Justice Antonin Scalia's death in 2016. Back then, said the GOP, the voters needed to decide in November who would get to confirm his replacement."I want you to use my words against me," Graham said at the time. "If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said 'Let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.'"Graham has, of course, backtracked on that position, leaning on two main reasons: one, he and fellow Republicans argue, the GOP now controls the Senate and the White House, so there's no ambiguity as to what voters want. "No Senate has confirmed an opposite party president's Supreme Court nominee during an election year," Graham wrote in a Monday letter to Judiciary Committee members. With Trump's win in 2016 and the GOP's hold of the Senate in 2018, Graham said "we should honor that mandate."The second reason is what Graham described as Democrats' alleged misconduct during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process in 2018—"the destruction of this fine man," he tweeted—amounted to a final straw for decorum on judicial matters, making total war acceptable. Those hearings, in the eyes of many Republicans, were central to Graham's rehabilitation among Trump's supporters, and Graham has raised them repeatedly in recent days.Lindsey Graham Backflips on SCOTUS Vow: I Support 'Any Effort to Move Forward'"After the treatment of Justice Kavanaugh I now have a different view of the judicial-confirmation process," Graham said in his Monday letter. "It's clear there are one set of rules for a Republican president and one set of rules for a Democrat president."In South Carolina, Republicans see the confirmation fight as an invaluable boost for Graham—not that he desperately needed one, they're quick to say—that shores up his biggest weakness at a pivotal moment in the 2020 campaign."It's a godsend for Sen. Graham," said Nate Leupp, chairman of the GOP in Greenville County, traditionally the Palmetto State's greatest bastion of Republican votes. Graham-backers like Leupp have long been most concerned about the senator losing votes among a hardcore Trump-supporting base that has never fully come around to trusting him."This goes right to the base of supporting Trump and promoting a conservative justice," said Leupp. "The only thing Sen. Graham had to shore up are people who voted against him in the Republican primary… This probably is what solidifies their vote for him."Some Democrats in the state were quick to point out that while Graham had been able to win some goodwill from Democrats in the past, Trump's election and the senator's support of the president has given them an opportunity to capitalize. But even amongst Democrats in the state there were differing opinions about whether Graham's new Supreme Court stance merely further drives the Democratic base in the state or if it will broaden chances at moderate defections from Graham to Harrison.Local Democratic leaders like Dorchester County Democratic party chairman Tim Lewis are hopeful that Graham's backtracking will hurt the Republican's appeal with "middle of the road" voters."These are good people and they see the hypocrisy," Lewis said.Even before the Supreme Court vacancy fight, it was clear the Graham-Harrison showdown was increasingly prominent on the national Senate map, where Democrats are aiming to flip several GOP-held seats to attain a majority. While key races in battleground states like North Carolina and Arizona have gotten plenty of attention so far this cycle, Harrison has continued to build a determined effort to unseat the incumbent as the race entered the final 50-day stretch to election day. Aside from Amy McGrath, the Democrat challenging McConnell in Kentucky, no other Democratic Senate candidate has raked in more than Harrison, who's reported raising roughly $30 million—a staggering sum for this relatively small state.That, say Democrats, has fueled Harrison's rise. A Quinnipiac University poll released last Wednesday showed Graham tied with Harrison, each with 48 percent of the vote.But Harrison's team had also found themselves on the defensive recently after The Washington Free Beacon reported on a pair of Harrison's key staffers' offensive past social media history, which included one of them using a derogatory and homophobic term. The staffers are not leaving the campaign but both apologized and Harrison has denounced the tweets, The Post and Courier reported last week.Yet the death of the beloved liberal icon and the promise of a SCOTUS battle has ratcheted up the emotion in the race even further.Deborah Rodriguez, chair of the Colleton County Democratic Party, said she thinks it will "matter to people who maybe are on the fence," as she pointed to it creating trust issues with the senator."I think it just cements anybody who was already going to vote Republican and I think for people who are on the fence or maybe independent, I think this is going to be something that will help them, move them over to Jaime Harrison," Rodriguez said.Still, some others like Terri Jowers, executive committeewoman for the Barnwell County Democratic Party, were less optimistic about the impact even as she feels good about Harrison's chances at an upset. But that didn't mean she was giving up on raising the issue."This doesn't surprise me at all. Does it make me nauseated? Yes it does," Jowers said. "It makes me absolutely heart-sick. But I just don't think that the average voter understands how absolutely critical this moment is and why this is so important. I wish they did. And I'm going to be doing everything I can to help people understand how impactful this moment is and how disingenuous it is of (Graham)to be flipflopping on this."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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| As the U.S. hits 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, Trump tells an Ohio rally the coronavirus 'affects virtually nobody' Posted: 21 Sep 2020 10:01 PM PDT  The U.S. passed yet another "grim milestone" in its COVID-19 pandemic Monday night, Reuters notes, with at least 200,000 Americans dead from the new coronavirus and an average of nearly 1,000 more dying each day. As "the country blew past estimate after estimate" of COVID-19 deaths, Politico's pandemic newsletter said Monday night, "the term 'grim milestone' in headlines became so routine that we banned it."COVID-19 deaths are rising again in the U.S. after a four-week decline, with Texas and Florida leading the news fatalities, Reuters reports, and the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation now predicts 300,000 deaths by Dec. 9 and 378,000 by the end of 2020 if current trends continue. The IHME's first projection of U.S. coronavirus deaths, issued March 16, topped out at 162,000. The U.S., with about 4 percent of the world's population, has 20 percent of its recorded COVID-19 deaths.At a rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Monday night, President Trump assured his admirers the virus isn't really that bad, noting that it mostly kills "elderly people" and people with "other problems," adding, "It affects virtually nobody."> "It affects virtually nobody," Trump says of the coronavirus, which has now killed 200,000 Americans and counting pic.twitter.com/qHrZvUWNhX> > — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 22, 2020According to CDC data, more than 70 percent of U.S. COVID-19 deaths are among people older than 65, which means about 60,000 of the dead were 65 and younger. And a lot of the estimated millions of U.S. "long-haulers" who did not die from COVID-19 are still grappling with a wide array of health problems, some of the potentially serious.More stories from theweek.com Democrats have a better option than court packing Stephen Colbert's Late Show takes Lindsey Graham up on his offer, uses his words against him Trump supporters boo Ohio's GOP lieutenant governor for encouraging mask use
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| Colombia court must decide who can grant freedom to Uribe, judge says Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:54 AM PDT  Colombia's Supreme Court must establish whether a judge or the attorney general's office is responsible for deciding the future of a house arrest order against ex-president Alvaro Uribe, a magistrate said on Tuesday. Uribe and several allies are being investigated for allegedly engaging in witness tampering in an attempt to discredit allegations the former president had ties to right-wing paramilitaries. Uribe's lawyer had asked a judge to free him while the case continues.
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| Walmart rolling back two of its COVID-19 precautions as customer behaviors change Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:25 AM PDT  Here's how your next trip to the retailer could soon look different.
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| Snorkeler attacked by 10ft bull shark in Florida Keys Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:56 PM PDT  Victim was airlifted to Miami hospital with a serious bite wound
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| TikTok deal under new threat as Trump insists on total US control Posted: 21 Sep 2020 09:28 AM PDT  The US president says he will not approve the deal if Chinese company Bytedance remains involved.
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| Portland protesters reportedly faced tear gas after the city's mayor banned the local police department from using it Posted: 20 Sep 2020 11:38 AM PDT  Both the Portland Police Bureau and Mayor Ted Wheeler denied using tear gas against protesters after Wheeler's order to ban it.
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| Why Biden is stiff-arming the left on court-packing and the filibuster Posted: 22 Sep 2020 01:30 AM PDT  The Democratic nominee sees political upside in his old-school institutionalism.
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| Former Wisconsin police chief to review Jacob Blake shooting Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:48 PM PDT  Wisconsin's attorney general announced Monday that he has selected a former Madison police chief to serve as an independent consultant for prosecutors weighing whether to file charges against the officer who shot Jacob Blake, a Black man who was left paralyzed from the waist down. The shooting of Blake on Aug. 23 by a white Kenosha police officer made Wisconsin the epicenter of the nation's ongoing debate over police violence and racial injustice. It came three months after the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.
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| Trump says aides rejected his request to adjust value of dollar Posted: 22 Sep 2020 04:52 AM PDT  President Trump on Monday said he was rebuffed when he asked officials to adjust the exchange rate of the dollar.
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| Facebook says it is ready for violent unrest in the US election, and has plans to restrict the spread of inflammatory posts Posted: 22 Sep 2020 03:06 AM PDT  Nick Clegg, Facebook's head of global affairs, told The Financial Times that the company is preparing in case of chaos after the November election.
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| Australian journalist says he fled China after authorities threatened to detain his teenage daughter Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:35 AM PDT  Chinese authorities threatened to detain an Australian journalist and his 14-year-old daughter two years ago, in apparent retaliation for his coverage of China. Matthew Carney, then the Australian Broadcasting Corp's Beijing bureau chief, was already bracing for trouble after being reprimanded by Chinese foreign ministry representatives upset over his coverage, which they had deemed unfavourable to the country. The last meeting he had with representatives ended with him being told he had personally broken Chinese laws and was now under 'investigation.' The problems continued when Carney sought to renew his journalist visa. During the process, he was instructed to report to a facility and to bring his daughter, where a lead interrogator later alleged she had broken visa rules. He was told because his daughter is an adult under Chinese law, that "as the People's Republic of China is a law-abiding country, she will be charged with the visa crime."
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| Vatican steps up opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide Posted: 22 Sep 2020 03:37 AM PDT  The Vatican doubled down on its opposition to euthanasia on Tuesday, calling it an "act of homicide" that can never be justified or tolerated. A new document, issued as more countries consider legalising euthanasia or assisted suicide, said legislators and politicians who support such laws are "accomplices". Catholic healthcare workers must never give active or passive collaboration and governments the right to conscientious objection, it said.
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| Hawaii Health Department Chemist Cooked Up LSD for Air Force Members: Prosecutors Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:16 PM PDT  A government chemist in Hawaii cooked up batches of LSD for active-duty members of the U.S. military who responded to ads for the powerful hallucinogen posted on social media, prosecutors allege.Trevor Keegan, an "extract tech" in the Disease Outbreak Control Division of the state Health Department, was charged earlier this month on one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. His alleged co-conspirator, Austin White, is not known to be affiliated with any government agency. He is facing the same charges as Keegan.The case came to the attention of investigators last September, when a confidential informant tipped off the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) about "an individual [who] was utilizing...Snapchat to advertise and conduct drug sales, particularly with active duty military service members." The existence of the investigation has not been previously reported.Air Force Vet Who Shot Woman for Stealing His Nazi Flag Claims He's Actually the Victim OSI turned the investigation over to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which was soon able to identify the Snapchat dealer as White, prosecutors said."White's public Snapchat account showed the public advertisement of various controlled substances for sale with listed prices," says a criminal complaint filed in Hawaii federal court. "One of the advertised controlled substances was Lysergic Acid Diethylamide ("LSD"), more commonly known as 'acid,' which is a schedule I controlled substance."LSD use within the armed forces has become an issue of late. In 2018, rampant LSD consumption by members of the Air Force's nuclear missile corps was exposed by the Associated Press. Since then, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has reportedly launched nearly 200 investigations into LSD-related offenses, with cases spiking by 70 percent in the first four months of 2020. As recently as 2006, LSD use in the Air Force was so rare it was removed entirely from the standard drug tests given to airmen.In December 2019, an undercover DEA agent contacted White on Snapchat to arrange a purchase. During that meeting, White allegedly sold the agent 20 grams of "a suspected LSD mixture in the form of ingestible gummies" for $200. The following month, White sold the same undercover agent about $1,400 worth of gummies and tabs of blotter acid, the complaint states. White's source "work[ed] in chemistry," he told the undercover agent, and said he "makes his own stuff." White then agreed to have "the cook" make another 300 blotter tabs in advance of their next meeting, according to prosecutors.That's when White got sloppy. After getting $2,500 from his customer, White pointed to a car parked nearby. White allegedly told the undercover that the vehicle's driver—and lone passenger—was his supplier, before walking over to retrieve the drugs. DEA agents were able to identify the driver as Keegan, according to court filings.Both men were arrested at the beginning of May. The blotter acid tested positive for LSD, although the gummies did not."You would think that employees at the state disease outbreak control center would be too busy these days for such extracurricular activities," Dan Grazier, an ex-Marine Corps officer who now works for the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, told The Daily Beast. "I don't recall a single instance of anyone testing positive for LSD when I was in the Marine Corps. I have heard it is becoming more common because it is quickly passed through the system and can't be detected in a urinalysis after 2 to 3 days."Former U.S. Air Force squadron commander Cedric Leighton, who retired from the service as a colonel, said he discovered at least three of his airmen using LSD during his 26-year career."Our service members are good people, but, like anyone else, they can be one bad decision away from ruining their careers and their lives," Leighton told The Daily Beast. "I saw it as my job to help them avoid those bad decisions."Keegan and White's attorneys did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations.Both men are free on $50,000 bail. Keegan is expected to plead guilty at the end of October.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Fauci on Trump’s Vaccine Boasts: No One’s Seen the Data Posted: 22 Sep 2020 01:25 AM PDT  In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has boasted about his administration's efforts to produce a safe COVID-19 vaccine while simultaneously declaring that the distribution of that vaccine to the American public would happen "very soon."But Trump has not seen the vaccine data.In fact, no one in the administration has seen it. In an interview with The Daily Beast Monday evening, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there is only one individual who has access to the data that would show whether a vaccine is viable."These are blind placebo-controlled trials. The only ones who see the data intermittently is the safety data monitoring board…. a single unblinded statistician," Fauci said. "Those data are not public data, no one can know what those data show. That person looks at the data and says, 'OK, let's keep the trial going, we don't have enough data to make a decision.' Or that person can look at the data and say, 'You know, there really is a very strong signal of efficacy, let's make it known.' We bring in the company, we tell the company, then the company can make up their mind, whether they want to use that data to go to the [Federal Drug Administration for approval]."Fauci Aide Unmasked as COVID Troll Will RetireIn other words, Fauci said, there is no way of knowing how the U.S. is faring in its development of a vaccine until a subset of statisticians decide it's time for it to be known. The fact that the data is so closely held is part of what is supposed to build trust in the science community and within the administration that the vaccine was developed in a controlled environment without political influences.Fauci has previously said that he would "bet" on a November or December timeline for learning the efficacy of a vaccine—not necessarily for guaranteeing its distribution. (A vaccine would need to get approved by the FDA before distribution to the military, nursing homes, and other vulnerable populations). And last week President Trump himself walked back part of his promise of a quick vaccine delivery, saying the U.S. was on target to manufacture enough vaccines to distribute to Americans by April 2021, not by October 2020, as he's suggested. But despite that correction, the president has continued to stand at the White House press podium, proclaiming to reporters and Americans watching at home that a successful vaccine is inevitable and that data shows the vaccine development is in its final stage."We essentially have it," Trump said at a news conference last Friday.Trump's proclamations have fed into a growing level of uneasiness about the efficacy of the vaccine approval process, creating additional complications for his own coronavirus task force. Both Fauci and fellow task force members have continued to press privately the importance of building trust among the American people that when a vaccine is produced it will have gone through a rigorous review process.The dichotomy between the president's public hyping of the vaccine and the reality that no one in the Trump administration knows what the data actually says underscores the problem the federal government faces in tackling this growing public relations problem."The lack of trust in a vaccine is multifaceted," Fauci said. "Even if there weren't any mixed signals coming out of the government, there still would be a bit of an anti-vaxx feeling. You superimpose a part of that... the kind of mixed signals that are coming out of different agencies, people read that in the newspaper, whether it's real or not, and they get concerned... can you believe what the government says?"The mixed messaging from the government is not just around the production of a vaccine. Testing and other community health guidelines have stirred tensions among officials working with the task force.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week quietly updated its guidelines on COVID-19 transmission, saying "airborne viruses, including COVID-19, are among the most contagious and easily spread" and that the virus could spread "through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes." On Monday, however, the agency took down its guidance, telling reporters the website had been altered by accident and that the information previously published was still under internal review. An hour later, the CDC took it a step further, saying the information posted on its website "does not reflect" its "current state of knowledge".That redaction was merely the latest misstep made by CDC officials. Last week the agency again revised its testing guidelines, telling Americans that individuals without coronavirus symptoms should be tested "due to the significance of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission." The CDC had put out guidelines in August that said individuals who were not exhibiting COVID-related symptoms "do not necessarily need a test." The New York Times reported that top officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House coronavirus task force had finalized the August testing guidelines and "dropped" them onto the CDC's website without approval of the agency.Dr. Anthony Fauci Tells Trevor Noah Trump's 'Confused Messages' on COVID-19 Are 'Unfortunate'As the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. nears 200,000, an increasing number of cases are emerging in Wisconsin, North Dakota and Utah, including within communities on college campuses. Meanwhile, in the White House, President Trump's closest advisers have continued to downplay the threat and complications that come with reopening restaurants, gyms, bars and schools. On Monday Trump's economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters that the U.S has "regained control of the virus." But scientists working with the White House coronavirus task force, including Fauci, continue to warn that large indoor gatherings carry heavy risks, particularly because liquid droplets from speaking or breathing can infect individuals if there is a lack of airflow.Now that cases are rising on university campuses, Fauci said he and Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House task force, developed a plan to keep students on campus and separated from other students if they are infected. Birx raised the idea on a call with the nation's governors earlier this month. And Fauci seconded it in Monday's interview, stressing that schools should keep infected students on campus even during the Thanksgiving break."If you want to get the kids back to college, and some may inevitably get infected, you've got to do two things. You've got to be able to segregate them from the student body so they don't infect the whole student body. So you got to have the capability of putting them safely and comfortably, since most of them will be eating without symptoms, mild symptoms, put them in a... in a special dormitory," Fauci said, adding that schools should at the same time be surveilling those students who do not present with symptoms but may have come into contact with a COVID19 positive classmate."Then, importantly, we should not send them home," Fauci added. "They may be infected and not particularly sick or not particularly impacted by the infection. But they go back and then grandma and grandpa and uncle or aunt or mother, who's a compromised host with diabetes, or obesity or what have you, that's when you get into real trouble."Fauci warned against colleges and universities continuing to let coronavirus-positive students live among the rest of the campus, saying the country should have learned its lesson from the summer when Americans went back to restaurants and bars and did not adhere to the public health guidelines."It's the same thing that, you know... at the the holidays, we had Fourth of July, Memorial Day, people felt pent-up, they went to the bars, they got infected, maybe they didn't really get much symptoms. But then they went back into the community and transmitted it to vulnerable people," Fauci said, pointing to early reopening and a lack of proper social distancing and mask wearing as catalysts for community spread."That's the reason why we saw the sharp increase in cases and hospitalizations, and deaths," Fauci said.Fauci has previously said that he wanted to see the U.S. at 10,000 cases by the time the fall semester started—about 30,000 fewer cases than the U.S. is currently clocking on an average daily basis. That doesn't sit well with the nation's leading vaccine official."I've been saying this a lot. I sound like a broken record. We are still nowhere near that threshold that I laid out earlier," Fauci said, adding that if people continue to push back on social distancing and mask wearing guidelines, particularly when indoors, the country could see another wave. "We will have to see what happens when the winter comes and people are forced inside."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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| Three jailed after being caught with 109 undersized lobsters in the Keys, police say Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:39 PM PDT  Three Lower Keys residents were jailed Friday after state fish and wildlife police said they were found with more than 100 undersized lobsters and a haul of out-of-season stone crab claws.
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| Republican group targets ‘hypocrite’ Mitch McConnell for turnabout on Supreme Court nominations during election season Posted: 21 Sep 2020 11:06 AM PDT  'GOP senator, thy name is hypocrite'
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| Bloomberg raises millions to help Florida felons vote Posted: 22 Sep 2020 03:11 AM PDT  Just days after after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won a court victory to keep felons from voting until they've paid off fines, restitution and court fees, billionaire Mike Bloomberg has stepped in to help them pay off the debts. The former Democratic presidential candidate has helped raise more than $20 million so that felons who completed their prison sentences can vote in the presidential election. Bloomberg also has pledged $100 million to help Joe Biden win Florida.
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| Fact check: Kamala Harris is a natural-born U.S. citizen and eligible to serve as president Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:01 AM PDT  A post claims Kamala Harris is not eligible to serve as president because of her parents' citizenship. That's false. Harris was born in the U.S.
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| Pakistan fire: Two to hang for Karachi garment factory inferno Posted: 22 Sep 2020 06:32 AM PDT  The men were found guilty of starting Pakistan's deadliest industrial fire, killing some 260 people.
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| China admits Uighur birthrate has dropped by nearly one-third Posted: 21 Sep 2020 10:48 AM PDT  Chinese officials have admitted that birth rates have plummeted among its ethnic Uighurs, fuelling claims that Beijing is subjecting its Muslim minority to a campaign of forced birth control. Official statistics show that in Xinjiang, the north-western province where most of the 10 million strong Uighur community live, birth rates dropped by almost a third in 2018. The figures follow accusations that Beijing is attempting to reduce the Uighur population by threatening women with fines or spells in mass detention camps if they flout harsh family planning measures. At least a million Uighurs are believed to have passed through the detention camps in recent years, which Beijing insists are voluntary schools to teach Uighurs of the dangers of Islamic extremism. Human rights groups say they are used to eradicate Uighur culture, in tandem with forced abortion and sterilisation policies that amount to "demographic genocide".
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| A Kennedy who worked on Jared Kushner's COVID-19 task force said he was asked to distort a coronavirus prediction to make the outbreak seem less bad Posted: 22 Sep 2020 04:46 AM PDT  Max Kennedy Jr., a Democrat, said he joined Jared Kushner's coronavirus response team hoping that it would rise above politics. It did not.
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| Australia's daily coronavirus tally falls to lowest in more than three months Posted: 20 Sep 2020 04:57 PM PDT  Australia reported on Monday its smallest daily increase in new coronavirus infections in more than three months, but authorities in the nation's virus hotspot of Victoria said they could not hasten the easing of curbs. The 16 new infections are Australia's smallest daily jump since June 14, while two additional deaths were reported. "This light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer every day," Nick Coatsworth, the chief deputy medical officer told reporters in Canberra, the capital.
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| Curious mountain lion seen on video watching children play in California neighborhood Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:49 AM PDT  "I was really afraid for the kids and it was just pure adrenaline."
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| Trump suggests, without evidence, that Justice Ginsberg’s “fervent wish” about her replacement was written by Democrats Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:09 PM PDT  During an interview on "Fox & Friends" Monday morning, President Trump theorized that a quote attributed to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was manufactured by Democrats. Trump did not offer any evidence for his suggestion. According to NPR, Justice Ginsburg told her granddaughter that her most "fervent wish" was that she would not be replaced until a new president was sworn in.
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| China's Xi: COVID reveals isolationism as a futile pursuit Posted: 22 Sep 2020 05:23 AM PDT  China's leader took oblique potshots at the United States and its foreign policies Tuesday, cautioning in a U.N. address that the world must "not fall into the trap of a clash of civilizations" — remarks played minutes after delegates heard the American president insist that the United Nations "hold China accountable" for how it handled the emergence of the coronavirus. "Major countries should act like major countries," Xi Jinping said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, a speech made remotely and recorded in advance because the pandemic prevented leaders from convening as they have for decades. The virus first emerged in China early this year and has spread around the world, killing nearly 1 million people.
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| 'This is communism': Trump baselessly paints Biden as left-wing firebrand as votes align for him to win Supreme Court successor Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:33 PM PDT  'I'm the only thing standing between you and chaos,' president tells supporters in Ohio
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| Only in Arizona: Bobcats clinging to a saguaro cactus caught on camera Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:04 AM PDT  "At first, obviously, it was exciting to see them but then I kind of realized, 'Oh they're up there for a reason,' " Mindy King said.
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| Twitter is investigating after anecdotal data suggested its picture-cropping tool favors white faces Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:01 AM PDT  Users began to notice that the algorithm behind Twitter's automatic cropping tool appeared to be systematically favoring White faces.
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| Angered by Arab-Israel ties, Palestine quits chairing Arab League sessions Posted: 22 Sep 2020 04:19 AM PDT  RAMALLAH, West Bank/GAZA (Reuters) - Palestine has quit its current chairmanship of Arab League meetings, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Tuesday, condemning as dishonourable any Arab agreement to establish formal relations with Israel. Palestinians see the accords that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed with Israel in Washington a week ago as a betrayal of their cause and a blow to their quest for an independent state in Israeli-occupied territory. Earlier this month, the Palestinians failed to persuade the Arab League to condemn member nations breaking ranks and normalising ties with Israel.
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| Village broadband mystery finally solved after 18 months of signal failure Posted: 22 Sep 2020 04:44 AM PDT  Every day, without fail, for 18 months, an entire Welsh village lost its broadband connection on the dot at 7am. The mystery left residents and engineers utterly baffled and frustrated. Unable to get online, the 400-strong population of Aberhosan, Powys, repeatedly called telecoms experts, who in turn, regularly descended on the village in a bid to identify the problem. In a desperate, and rather costly attempt to solve the problem, they even replaced the area's cables. But still, much to their bemusement, the signal continued to plummet from 7am. Eventually, engineers launched an investigation, bringing in a "crack squad" from other parts of the UK. Equipped with a specialist monitoring device called a Spectrum Analyser, the team was dispatched to scope the village from dawn. Michael Jones, an Openreach engineer, said: "We walked up and down the village in the torrential rain at 6am to see if we could find an electrical noise to support our theory.
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| Millions in military gear vanishes — until eBay post unravels trooper’s plot, feds say Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:18 PM PDT  The Illinois state trooper is accused of lifting more than $3 million worth of military equipment from a Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina.
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| Pregnant Bindi Irwin reveals baby's sex: 'You are our world' Posted: 22 Sep 2020 07:21 AM PDT  Irwin and her husband, Chandler Powell, are about to become a family of three.
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| Navalny says nerve agent was found 'in and on' his body Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:20 AM PDT  Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny demanded Monday that Russia return the clothes he was wearing on the day he fell into a coma in Siberia, calling it "a crucial piece of evidence" in the nerve agent poisoning he is being treated for at a German hospital. In a blog post Monday, Navalny said the Novichok nerve agent was found "in and on" his body, and said the clothes taken off him when he was hospitalized in Siberia a month ago after collapsing on a Russian flight are "very important material evidence." Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic, fell ill on a domestic flight to Moscow on Aug. 20, was brought to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk and was transferred to Germany for treatment two days later.
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