| Why the date of Trump's last negative COVID-19 test matters Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:37 PM PDT  Questions remain as to when the president last tested negative for COVID-19.
|
| Joe Biden: Incoherent and Indefensible on Abortion Posted: 06 Oct 2020 05:11 AM PDT  In 1982, Joe Biden voted for a constitutional amendment to allow individual states to overturn Roe v. Wade. 30 years later in his 2012 debate with Paul Ryan, Biden claimed to believe that life begins at conception, but said that he would not "impose" that belief on other Americans.It was an utterly incoherent and deeply irresponsible position to take. If you believe that human life begins at conception, it is cowardly — not admirable or selfless — to abdicate your duty to stand up and speak up for the voiceless. It is especially shameful to abdicate for reasons of political self-preservation, as Biden did on that debate stage. Now, Biden has tacked even further left on the issue, expressing his support for repealing the Hyde Amendment last June after over 40 years of opposing such a repeal. And on Monday evening at an NBC News town hall, he even went so far as to promise to enshrine the holding of Roe v. Wade legislatively.Biden's hostile public posture toward life is incoherent, and growing more indefensible by the day.
|
| College student: I was in quarantine on campus. They gave me a bag lunch and little help. Posted: 06 Oct 2020 04:00 AM PDT  I thought the end of my senior year of high school was disappointing. But then I noticed coronavirus symptoms on my first day of college classes.
|
| Arkansas Republican County Chair Dies of COVID-19 Weeks After His Committee Hosted Maskless Gathering Posted: 06 Oct 2020 10:28 AM PDT  The chairman of an Arkansas county Republican committee died from complications associated with COVID-19 on Tuesday—less than one month after his organization hosted a maskless gathering with other elected leaders. Steven Farmer, who served as the chairman of the Craighead County Republican Committee, died on Tuesday after a weeks-long battle with the coronavirus that resulted in a stay at the ICU and a ventilator, his daughter and the organization announced. The news comes just three weeks after his committee hosted an event with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX), who contracted COVID-19 in July, for Reagan Day. Photos of the event show few attendees wearing masks and minimal social distancing. Arkansas state Rep. Dan Sullivan, who is currently spearheading a lawsuit to overturn the mask mandate and other health directives in his state, also appears to have spoken at the event.A committee spokesperson told The Daily Beast that Farmer, who also served as the superintendent of the Jonesboro Human Development Center, did not attend the Sept. 14 event. Now Kayleigh McEnany Has COVID, Making a Dozen From Rose Garden Ceremony"Dad's soul is singing today even though ours aren't. But grief is the price you pay for being blessed enough to experience the kind of love that dad gave and lived through his actions every day," Audrey Haynie, Farmer's daughter, said in a Tuesday Facebook post. "I'm sorry we couldn't save you....but I know that you're even more perfect now than when you were here. We will see your face and hear your voice in everyone and everything you left here.....in your legacy. Thank you for that. For the gift of you. We'll be seeing you."Haynie has chronicled her father's illness since Sept. 18, posting on Facebook that he was admitted to the ICU the same week as the Reagan Day event. Over several posts, Farmer's daughter described how the GOP county chair had been showing some signs of recovery until Sept. 25—when his condition took a turn for the worse. "We got a horrible report this morning. The doctor called me and said he was very worried that dad was not going to make it through this," Haynie wrote, adding that her father was beginning to show signs of shock. On Monday, Haynie posted, "Breathe easy, dad. Just breathe," while sharing that his EEG showed that Farmer had minimal brain activity.Following Haynie's announcement about her father's passing, the Craighead County Republican Committee released a statement, calling Farmer a "great caring friend to all and a dedicated leader." In addition to his duties as chairman of the GOP committee, Farmer has also served as coordinator for the Craighead County Crisis Response Team. According to KAIT, Farmer was a former board member of the Arkansas Crisis Response Team, and served as a chaplain for the Jonesboro Fire Department.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.
|
| ISIS terrorists known as the 'Beatles' likely to be brought to U.S. in coming days Posted: 06 Oct 2020 02:03 AM PDT  Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, who are in U.S. military custody in Iraq, are accused of taking part in kidnappings of U.S. aid workers and reporters.
|
| California wildfires spawn first ‘gigafire’ in modern history Posted: 06 Oct 2020 09:11 AM PDT  August complex fire expanded beyond 1m acres, elevating it from a mere 'megafire' to a new classification: 'gigafire'California's extraordinary year of wildfires has spawned another new milestone – the first "gigafire", a blaze spanning 1m acres, in modern history.On Monday, the August complex fire in northern California expanded beyond 1m acres, elevating it from a mere "megafire" to a new classification, "gigafire", never used before in a contemporary setting in the state.At 1.03m acres, the fire is larger than the state of Rhode Island and is raging across seven counties, according to fire agency Cal Fire. An amalgamation of several fires caused when lightning struck dry forests in August, the vast conflagration has been burning for 50 days and is only half-contained.The August complex fire heads a list of huge fires that have chewed through 4m acres of California this year, a figure called "mind-boggling" by Cal Fire and double the previous annual record. Five of the six largest fires ever recorded in the state have occurred in 2020, resulting in several dozen deaths and thousands of lost buildings.There is little sign of California's biggest ever fire season receding, with above-average temperatures expected this week. The state endure a heatwave this summer, aiding the formation of enormous wildfires even without the seasonal winds that usually fan the blazes that have historically dotted the west coast.Vast, out-of-control fires are increasingly a feature in the US west due to the climate crisis, scientists say, with rising temperatures and prolonged drought causing vegetation and soils to lose moisture.This parched landscape makes larger fires far more likely. Big wildfires are three times more common across the west than in the 1970s, while the wildfire season is three months longer, according to an analysis by Climate Central."We predicted last year that we were living with the chance of such an extreme event under our current climate," said Jennifer Balch, a fire ecologist at the University of Colorado Boulder. "Don't need a crystal ball."The 2020 fire season has seen choking smoke blanket the west coast and at times blot out the sun. But experts warn this year may soon seem mild by comparison as the world continues to heat up due to the release of greenhouse gases from human activity."If you don't like all of the climate disasters happening in 2020, I have some bad news for you about the rest of your life," said Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University.
|
| Susan Collins trails Democratic challenger by just 1 point, new Maine poll shows Posted: 06 Oct 2020 11:07 AM PDT  Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) just had one of her best external polls in a while, as she finds herself mired in a tight re-election race against her Democratic challenger, Maine's House Speaker Sarah Gideon. The poll, conducted by the Portland, Maine-based Digital Research Insights for The Bangor Daily News, found Collins trailing Gideon by just one point, a boost following a series of polls in which Gideon led by several points. The previous BDN poll in August, for example, showed Collins trailing by five points.> BDN: Gideon 44, Collins 43https://t.co/KQfXQbaucr> > Internals aside, this is the best poll for Collins in awhilehttps://t.co/eWDey88UHn> > — Burgess Everett (@burgessev) October 6, 2020Collins' race is crucial for Republicans, who are looking to hold on to the majority in the upper chamber. The poll surveyed 500 registered voters between Sep. 25 and Oct. 4. The margin of error was 4.4 percentage points. Read more at The Bangor Daily News.More stories from theweek.com President Superspreader Trump is finally doubling down on COVID skepticism 5 worrying red flags from Trump's doctor
|
| Japan’s feared ‘yakuza’ gangsters banned from Halloween festivities Posted: 06 Oct 2020 06:37 AM PDT  One of the most fearsome "yakuza" underworld groups in Japan has been told it cannot hand out sweets to trick-or-treating children at Halloween. The local government of Hyogo Prefecture, in central Japan, on Monday unanimously approved a new provision to existing anti-gangster legislation that makes it illegal for members of the Yamaguchi-gumi to hand out treats at its headquarters in the city of Kobe on Halloween. The local authority was acting on a proposal from the prefectural police, which has been waging a war of attrition against the largest "yakuza" group in Japan. The gang operates across Japan, earning millions every year from extortion, underground gambling, the sex industry, weapons trafficking, drug sales and kickbacks in the property and construction sectors. Despite their reputation as violent criminals, members of the gang have been enthusiastic participants in Kobe's Halloween festivities for many years, with gangsters in costumes handing out sweets outside their offices. The new ordinance makes that illegal, with children also banned from entering the gang's offices. Members are also banned from giving money or gifts to children, and contacting minors by phone or email with the intention of encouraging them to join the group. Any gangster found guilty of violating the ordinance faces a sentence of up to six months in prison and fines of as much as £3,640. "The authorities are acting to deprive the Yamaguchi-gumi of any good public relations that might make them appealing to young people", said Jake Adelstein, author of 'Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan' and an authority on the nation's underworld groups. "They have been trying to ostracise this gang from society for some years and this is just the latest measure to do that." "By clamping down like this, they are hoping to deprive them of new blood because the average age of a 'yakuza' is now 50 and they're struggling to attract new members", he said. Authorities are also attempting to keep people away from the gang's facilities out of concern that passers-by might be injured or killed in the Yamaguchi-gumi's ongoing feud with a rival group. In October last year, two members of an affiliated group were shot dead on a street in Kobe, while a senior member of the splinter group, the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, was killed in November 2019 in the nearby city of Amagasaki. In the last five years, police say there have been 127 incidents of violence involving gangs in and around Kobe.
|
| Trump campaign discussing plans to appoint its own state electors, no matter the results: report Posted: 06 Oct 2020 02:00 AM PDT  A real nightmare scenario: The eight closest battleground states might send competing sets of electors to Congress
|
| A fired Amazon employee led a protest in front of Jeff Bezos' $165 million Beverly Hills mansion over workers' wages and job protections Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:44 PM PDT  Amazon faces multiple lawsuits from employees over its working conditions during the pandemic.
|
| Biden pulls further ahead in polls as he campaigns in Florida Posted: 05 Oct 2020 04:13 PM PDT  Peter Doocy provides an update on the Democratic nominee from the campaign trail on 'Special Report.'
|
| North Cyprus to reopen beach abandoned in no-man's land since 1974 conflict Posted: 06 Oct 2020 07:27 AM PDT  Northern Cyprus said on Thursday it would reopen the beach area of an abandoned resort in no-man's land, a move condemned by Greek Cypriots and likely to conjure up memories of the 1974 Turkish invasion that partitioned the island. Ersin Tatar, premier of the breakaway state of Northern Cyprus, made the announcement in Ankara alongside Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who said he backed the decision on Varosha, sealed off within barbed wire for decades. The move could weigh on Turkey's dispute with European Union members Cyprus and Greece over territorial rights in the Eastern Mediterranean.
|
| Prosecutor says 'Hotel Rwanda' man to be tried with rebels Posted: 05 Oct 2020 11:20 AM PDT  Rwanda's prosecution on Monday said it intends to hold a joint trial of Paul Rusesabagina, whose story inspired the film "Hotel Rwanda," together with 16 prisoners alleged to be rebel fighters. Rusesabagina, 66, is a founder of the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change, a coalition of opposition groups, which has an armed wing known as the National Liberation Front. The government accuses the rebel group of killing Rwandans in the country's north.
|
| Kidnapped Mexican model’s body found in mass grave Posted: 06 Oct 2020 10:27 AM PDT  The disappearance led to street protests in Mexico demanding justice, with police since arresting three men over the crime
|
| Hurricane Delta remains a major storm, ‘significant’ impacts possible for MS Gulf Coast Posted: 06 Oct 2020 08:24 AM PDT  The system has seen "rapid intensification" in the last 24 hours.
|
| In California: Newsom’s nominee for state Supreme Court would make history Posted: 05 Oct 2020 06:11 PM PDT  If confirmed, Martin Jenkins would be the court's first gay Black member. Plus, California is the 6th happiest state and Uber and Lyft spend nearly $100M to overturn a state law that would make them classify drivers as employees.
|
| Newly found grave of Anglo-Saxon warlord could rewrite history of post-Roman Britain Posted: 04 Oct 2020 02:01 PM PDT  The grave of an Anglo-Saxon warlord discovered by a metal detectorist could rewrite the history of post-Roman Britain, archeologists have said. The 'Marlow Warlord' has been found buried on a hilltop above the Thames valley alongside highly decorated spears, shears, dress fittings and other paraphernalia. The six-foot soldier, who was aged between 40 and 50 when he was buried, is proof that there was a "powerful tribe in the area", according to researchers at the University of Reading. The area in which the warlord was found was previously considered to be a 'no man's land' without any fixed boundaries of its own - between the kingdom of Kent to the south and east and Wessex to the west and the north. However the new findings have shown that the area was in fact home to its own power base, which was later absorbed by a larger kingdom, and home to a tribe of its own - led by the newly discovered warlord. Archaeologists were called in to complete an excavation of the pagan site, which has been undisturbed since the sixth century, after Sue Washington, 64, discovered two bronze bowls during a metal detection in 2018. A full survey and excavation was then carried out this August after archaeologists obtained the permission of the current landowner.
|
| Rudy Giuliani's cough kept interrupting him while he tried to attack Biden on Fox News Posted: 05 Oct 2020 09:43 PM PDT  While waiting to receive the results of a coronavirus test, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared on Fox News Monday night, where he coughed throughout his interview with host Martha MacCallum.Giuliani is President Trump's personal lawyer and one of his most ardent supporters. He helped Trump prepare for last week's debate against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, and several people Giuliani came in close contact with, including Trump, former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Trump aide Hope Hicks, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) have all tested positive for the coronavirus.Giuliani shared with MacCallum that he recently tested negative for COVID-19, but two hours before his appearance, he took a second test, "one of those all the way in the back of the nose tests," The Daily Beast reports. MacCallum told Giuliani she hopes he receives "a negative on that one," and then asked him about Biden urging people to wear masks and listen to scientists about how the coronavirus works.Biden, Giuliani declared, doesn't "really understand what scientists are," adding that people should listen to their doctors because "they know your personal history. Doctors really aren't scientists. Scientists almost always have competing opinions. That's what science is about." He scoffed that Biden is making "a political statement to scare people, wearing that mask," and mocked him for donning a face covering "when you are standing at a podium," saying the "only thing you can infect is the teleprompter that's near you."Before saying goodbye to her guest, MacCallum told Giuliani, "I hope that cough is not anything bad, you're waiting for your test to come back. We hope you're going to be healthy and well." Giuliani responded, "I hope so, too. I'll let you know tomorrow." > Rudy was part of Trump's debate prep team and says he's awaiting the results of a coronavirus test pic.twitter.com/UZI9TN67w6> > -- Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 6, 2020More stories from theweek.com President Superspreader Trump is finally doubling down on COVID skepticism 5 worrying red flags from Trump's doctor
|
| Kyrgyzstan's disputed election threatens revolt Posted: 06 Oct 2020 04:17 AM PDT 
Kyrgyzstan is facing massive civil unrest, political upheaval, and its president says he's being threatened by an attempted coup -- rapid developments in the country that borders China, and also hosts a Russian military base. Opposition leaders claim to have seized power there and stormed government buildings. They also say they've freed a former president from prison on corruption charges. The protests were sparked by a parliamentary election the opposition wants annulled. In the capital at least one person was killed and 590 wounded in unrest overnight, according to the government. This was President Sooronbai Jeenbekov on Tuesday: "They did not obey law enforcement agencies, beat paramedics and damaged buildings. I ordered the law enforcement agencies not to open fire so there was no blood spilt and not a single citizen was injured. So far, they have done everything so as not to exacerbate the situation." Kyrgyzstan is strategically located and has long been a platform for competition between Russia, China, and the United States. The trouble first started on Monday when police used teargas and water cannons to disperse thousands of people demonstrating against the parliamentary results from weekend elections. Two establishment parties who advocate for close links to Moscow appear to have taken the most seats, but Western observers say the election had been marred by vote-buying. The opposition says it has freed former President Almazbek Atambayev from jail, and was already discussing the line-up of a provisional government. However, Jeenbekov showed no immediate signs of relinquishing power and it remains unclear what role Atambayev might have.
|
| Venice successfully stopped a flood for the first time by raising a mile-long network of barriers to hold back the sea Posted: 06 Oct 2020 09:37 AM PDT  The mile-long network of barriers, named MOSE in a nod to the the Biblical figure Moses, blocked high water from entering Venice's lagoon.
|
| India police book hundreds over 'foreign involvement' in gang-rape protests Posted: 06 Oct 2020 07:58 AM PDT  Indian police on Tuesday accused foreign human rights groups and Muslim organisations of inciting caste tensions after widespread protests against their handling of a gang-rape and murder of a young Dalit woman.
|
| US court: Iran owes $1.4B over ex-FBI agent presumed dead Posted: 05 Oct 2020 09:04 PM PDT  A U.S. judge has ordered Iran to pay $1.45 billion to the family of a former FBI agent believed to have been kidnapped by the Islamic Republic while on an unauthorized CIA mission to an Iranian island in 2007. The judgment this month comes after Robert Levinson's family and the U.S. government now believe he died in the Iranian government's custody, something long denied by Tehran, though officials over time have offered contradictory accounts about what happened to him on Kish Island. Tensions remain high between the U.S. and Iran amid President Donald Trump's maximalist pressure campaign over Tehran's nuclear program.
|
| Chemical weapons watchdog ready to assist Russia in Navalny case Posted: 05 Oct 2020 06:26 AM PDT  The global chemical weapons watchdog, which has been asked by Germany to test samples of what Berlin says was a banned nerve agent used to poison a Russian opposition figure, said on Monday its experts would be prepared to assist Russia in the case. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it had received a request from Moscow on Oct. 1 for help in the case of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, and was seeking clarification on what type of assistance Russia wanted. Navalny fell ill on a flight in Siberia on Aug. 20 and was flown to Germany for treatment.
|
| The 'Game of Thrones' showrunners tricked Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams into thinking they weren't allowed to attend the wrap party because they were underage Posted: 06 Oct 2020 05:40 AM PDT  Turner and Williams cried when David Benioff and D.B. Weiss told them they were going to have a special underage wrap party at McDonald's.
|
| Justice Clarence Thomas suggests Supreme Court should overturn same-sex marriage in scathing attack Posted: 05 Oct 2020 09:43 AM PDT  The landmark ruling legalizing same-sex marriage had "ruinous consequences for religious liberty," Thomas says
|
| Letters to the Editor: Of course Trump isn't more humble and caring now that he has COVID-19 Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:52 PM PDT  It's naive to hope that getting sickened with COVID-19 will somehow change Donald Trump.
|
| Interpol issues 'red notice' for Thai Red Bull heir over hit-and-run Posted: 04 Oct 2020 08:24 PM PDT  Interpol has issued a "red notice" to arrest the fugitive Thai heir to the Red Bull billions for his role in a fatal hit-and-run, police said on Sunday. The move by the international police organisation is the latest in the years-long saga surrounding Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya who crashed his Ferrari in 2012, killing a police officer. The charges against Vorayuth, who is the grandson of Red Bull's co-founder, were dropped in July - sparking public outrage from Thais who saw it as an example of impunity enjoyed by the kingdom's elite. It spurred probes by various government agencies, including the Attorney General's Office which last month announced fresh charges against Vorayuth of reckless driving causing death and cocaine use. National Police deputy spokesman Colonel Kissana Phathanacharoen confirmed Sunday a red notice - Interpol's most urgent alert - was issued earlier this week. "After we received the confirmation, we then passed our request to 194 member countries asking for assistance from them," he told AFP.
|
| How Filipino activists ended up on a 'wanted' poster Posted: 05 Oct 2020 10:35 PM PDT  Activists warn that public vilification through 'red-tagging' is growing in the Philippines to quash dissent.
|
| Husband of South Korean Foreign Minister Breaks Her Rules—to Fly to America to Buy a Yacht Posted: 05 Oct 2020 06:07 AM PDT  It is one thing to flout a coronavirus travel ban to fly overseas for the purposes of buying a yacht.It's altogether another matter to do so when your wife is the one who made the rules.South Korea's foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, came under pressure to resign Monday after her husband defied her ministry's advice against all but essential travel overseas and flew to the United States on Saturday to buy himself a new boat.Lee Yill-Byung, a university professor, has now become the focus of considerable outrage in Korea after he was confronted by a television crew as he prepared to fly to the U.S. on Saturday, saying, "The coronavirus epidemic is not going to disappear any time soon. I can't sit at home all the time. I can't keep worrying about other people's lives as I live my own."His mission, as described on his now-deleted blog, was to buy himself a small yacht and enjoy a "cruising life" and be able to say that he "lived in a beautiful place" for several years before he dies.The opposition People Power Party was quick to condemn Lee's actions, with a party official telling the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, "Small businesses are suffering from the epidemic, but a family member of a high-ranking government official is traveling and buying a yacht."The paper accused Kang of "flagrant hypocrisy" as her ministry, just days before, had ordered Koreans to stay home for this year's Chuseok holiday, saying that people's "private lives are not an absolute right."Broadcaster KBS initially broke the news Saturday evening of Lee's travel, screening astonishing footage of reporters at Incheon International Airport confronting a defiant Lee, who told the reporters that he had "packed many masks."When asked if he was concerned about being the husband of a public figure and prominent lawmaker, Lee reportedly replied, "It could be a burden if I am doing something bad, but I am doing what I believe is right, and I am living my own life, so I don't have to compromise on this because of what others think." Lee was asked if Kang had spoken to him about the trip, and he replied, "We are both adults, so she didn't particularly tell me not to go."The following day, Kang told reporters that she was "sorry" about her husband's decision to travel overseas, adding, "He has planned the trip for such a long time and postponed it several times, so it's difficult for me to tell him not to go."The Korea JoongAng Daily said that sailing the world on a yacht was at the top of a bucket list on Lee's now-scrubbed blog, and that he has been planning the purchase for nearly a year. Lee reportedly was traveling to New York to purchase a 51-foot 1990 Kanter 51-foot Mistress V yacht, estimated to cost around $120,000.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.
|
| 'We have lost a family member': Arkansas police officer killed, another hurt in shooting at motel Posted: 05 Oct 2020 05:33 PM PDT  One Arkansas police officer was killed and another suffered non-life-threatening injuries during a shooting at a motel in Pine Bluff, police say.
|
| Florida governor extends voter registration after site crash Posted: 06 Oct 2020 08:02 AM PDT  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis extended the state's voter registration deadline Tuesday after he said heavy traffic crashed the state's online system and potentially prevented thousands of enrolling to cast ballots in next month's presidential election. DeSantis extended the deadline that expired Monday until 7 p.m. Tuesday. In addition to online registration, DeSantis ordered elections, motor vehicle and tax collectors offices to stay open until that hour for anyone who wants to register in person.
|
| Ethiopia bans flights over dam for security reasons: aviation chief Posted: 05 Oct 2020 04:26 AM PDT  Ethiopia has banned all flights over its giant new hydropower dam on the Blue Nile for security reasons, the head of its civil aviation authority said on Monday, as the president pledged the dam would begin generating power in the next 12 months. The move could worsen Ethiopia's dispute with Egypt and Sudan over its $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo has said could threaten its main supply of water. "All flights have been banned to secure the dam," the director-general of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, Wesenyeleh Hunegnaw, told Reuters by phone.
|
| Russian surfers say mystery pollution poisoning them, killing animals Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:49 AM PDT  Images on social media show masses of sea life washed up on the beaches of Kamchatka, and water tests found high levels of oil products and other compounds.
|
| Trump coronavirus: Morning Joe host says president could be guilty of ‘manslaughter’ if he infects Secret Service and White House staff Posted: 06 Oct 2020 11:26 AM PDT  'At some point isn't this manslaughter?' Ms Brzezinski said
|
| Boris Johnson hints at new 'magic of averages' social care system Posted: 06 Oct 2020 11:23 AM PDT  Boris Johnson has given his first clear hint that social care will be funded through a form of national insurance, as he said the "magic of averages" would solve the problem. The Prime Minister deliberately chose a phrase coined by his idol Sir Winston Churchill, who used it when talking about welfare taxes, to point the way forward. He promised to "fix the injustice of care home funding" as he said the coronavirus had "shone a spotlight" on the problems care homes face. In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference, Mr Johnson used another Second World War analogy as he said Britain should now, as then, strive to build a "new Jerusalem" as it emerges from a crisis. He said it was "not good enough" to merely restore the 2019 status quo, and instead Covid-19 should be used as an opportunity to reshape the economy for the better. Mr Johnson announced new plans for one-to-one teaching for "exceptional" children, and confirmed a target for every home in the country to be powered by wind farms by 2030.
|
| The Democrats Are Flirting with the Destruction of the Judiciary Posted: 06 Oct 2020 03:30 AM PDT  To this point, Joe Biden hasn't offered any position on court packing, one of the gravest threats to the constitutional order in modern American history. Whether he is too scared of offending a significant faction of his party or he believes it's an idea worth considering, his silence is a reflection of a dangerous shift on the left.Progressives, of course, have a point. If the Supreme Court adheres to even the most rudimentary constitutional limits on state power, rather than surrendering to the impulses of majoritarian politics, it's going to be a huge impediment to their agenda. Indeed, they have the same motivation as President Franklin Roosevelt had when he attempted to expand the Court in 1937: One-party rule.FDR revived a Woodrow Wilson plan to arbitrarily place political allies into the courts, one for every judge over 70 years old, which would have meant 50 additional political allies on the federal bench, and six additional Supreme Court justices. Like today's Democrats, he first softened up the public by attempting to delegitimize the Court — claiming, for instance, that the justices were incompetent geriatric cases incapable of performing their duties. (It is somewhat ironic that most reliably pro–New Deal justice at the time, Louis Brandeis, was the only octogenarian on the Court.)In those days, there were still enough politicians who valued the separation of powers to stop him. Of the ten members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who signed a document opposing FDR's scheme, seven were Democrats. They didn't merely maintain that FDR was wrong or misguided; they argued that the court-packing plan was an "utterly dangerous abandonment of constitutional principle," a transparent scheme to punish justices whose opinions diverged from the executive branch, and "an invasion of judicial power such as has never before been attempted in this country."If enacted, the senators wrote, court packing would create a "vicious precedent which must necessarily undermine our system." They concluded that the plan "should be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America."FDR, whose popularity would plummet to historic lows after the court-packing threat, ultimately went on to appoint eight justices, and to largely have his way in fundamentally changing American governance. But he was prevented from destroying the Court as an institution, and modern-day Democrats are now seeking to finish that job.Today, every instance in which Democrats are denied a political victory is immediately transformed into a national "crisis" in which the public has "lost faith" in a system that worked perfectly fine when they were in power. Not that long ago, self-interest was a motivation for defending deliberative politics and republican order. But these days, undeterred by reality, partisans have convinced themselves they'll be in power forever.It's not merely the progressive fringe that demands Democrats blow up the courts. It is the partisan, self-proclaimed defenders of "norms." In a recent piece in The Atlantic, the nation's leading periodical of intellectual anti-constitutionalism, Lawfare's Quinta Jurecic and Susan Hennessey argue that "if Republicans continue the smash-and-grab approach to confirming Barrett," court packing "may be the only way for Democrats to save the Court."The duly elected president and the duly elected Senate are observing the constitutionally stipulated guidelines for placing a highly qualified jurist on the Court. Someone will need to do a better job of explaining how dismantling the Court will "save" it. Now, perhaps if you've lost the ability to differentiate between ends and means, the idea makes intuitive sense to you. Perhaps you nod along as Biden spuriously argues that Amy Coney Barrett's nomination is nothing more than the exploitation of a "loophole" to undo the Affordable Care Act, ignoring the fact that we don't know how she'll rule on the Obamacare lawsuit (and the fact that either way, Obamacare isn't some untouchable edict handed down from Mount Sinai). But back here in the real world, we know that court-packing would be far more destructive to our political order than anything Donald Trump has done, Barrett's nomination very much included.The notion that the Senate shouldn't confirm Trump's nominee because Biden might win the election or Trump lost the "popular vote" is highly dubious. Justices do not need consent of the majority, nor should they seek it. As Clark Neily, the vice president for criminal justice at the Cato Institute, recently noted, some of the Supreme Court's "most reviled cases—including Dred Scott (slavery), Plessy (separate-but-equal), and Buck v Bell (eugenics)—involved acceding to democratically enacted policies. I can think of no higher compliment to pay a judge than to characterize her as antidemocratic."And that's if Democrats take the charge seriously, which all evidence suggests they don't: Remember, they had no problem with this "anti-democratic" institution when it was creating constitutional rights to gay marriage and abortion. It only becomes a problem for them when it threatens to defend the Bill of Rights.
|
| ‘Vanished Into Thin Air’: Florida Mom Disappears After Withdrawing $20 From ATM Posted: 06 Oct 2020 12:11 PM PDT  Authorities on Tuesday continued their frantic search for a Florida mother who disappeared over a week ago after withdrawing $20 from an ATM.Stephanie Hollingsworth, 50, left her home around noon on Sept. 25 and drove to a local Bank of America to withdraw $20, the Belle Isle Police Department said. The mother of three then stopped by a Walmart around 2 p.m., where she was caught on store cameras walking through an aisle near the entrance before turning around and walking out."She's a beautiful soul that was dedicated to her family and community," one family friend told The Daily Beast. "It's completely out of character for her to just completely disappear without telling anybody."Missing Amish Teen Went to Church on Sunday—and Never Came HomeThe Belle Isle Police Department has launched a massive multi-county search and announced a $5,000 reward for helpful information related to the case. Despite coordinating with the 50-year-old's family, who have created a makeshift "command post" and distributed hundreds of flyers throughout the Orlando area, a police spokesperson told The Daily Beast their office has not yet received any "meaningful leads.""We continue to be extremely concerned with her well-being and are asking for your continued help in this search," Belle Isle Police Chief Laura Houston said in a Monday update.> PLEASE SHARE: Belle Isle PD & the family of the mother of 3 StephanieHollingsworth need your help locating her. She was last seen on Friday, Sept. 25th in her Chevy Tahoe FL/ Y50XUR at a nearby Walmart on S Goldenrod Rd. Any info? Contact @CrimelineFL or call 407-836-4357. pic.twitter.com/3cdnJBenAi> > — Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) October 6, 2020Multiple municipalities in Central Florida have joined in on the search and are hoping to locate the yoga instructor's silver Chevy Tahoe.On Sept. 25, the 50-year-old left her house, which is about 20 minutes outside of Orlando, in her Tahoe and went to the Bank of America drive-through to withdraw $20 in cash."Stephanie took her purse and left her cell phone at the residence," police said in a Sept. 29 statement, adding that the 50-year-old "suffers from some mental conditions and needs care.""We don't have any more information than that," her husband, Scott Hollingsworth, told People. "But she couldn't have made it far with only $20. She hasn't been seen, and the Tahoe hasn't been picked up on any intersection or toll road cameras.""She basically vanished into thin air. It makes no sense," he added.Police Search for Missing Texas Mom and Her 2-Week-Old BabyPolice say surveillance video from the bank does not seem to show Hollingsworth in distress. According to a surveillance video released Monday, Hollingsworth entered an Orlando Walmart around 2 p.m. wearing a face mask and dark clothing and then abruptly walked out. The 50-year-old appeared to be holding something in her hand.Hollingsworth's friend said she has a "heart of gold," and her family is desperate to find her. Since her disappearance, hundreds of community members have helped the Hollingsworth family pass out flyers and conduct searches.Hollingsworth's family did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast's requests for comment."She's got three boys and we just want her back safe," the friend added.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.
|
| US, Australia, India, Japan discuss China's growing power Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:40 PM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that China's increasingly assertive actions across the region make it more critical than ever for four Indo-Pacific nations known as the Quad to cooperate to protect their partners and their people from Chinese "exploitation, corruption and coercion." Pompeo made the remark at a meeting in Tokyo with the foreign ministers of Japan, India and Australia, who together make up the Quad. Pompeo accused China of covering up the pandemic and worsening it, while threatening freedom, democracy and diversity in the region with its increasingly assertive actions.
|
| 'There's no one left': Violent floods sweep bodies from cemetery in France Posted: 06 Oct 2020 10:27 AM PDT |
| 1st grade CPS teacher dies due to COVID-19 related symptoms Posted: 05 Oct 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Family members are mourning the loss of a Chicago Public School teacher who died from COVID-19.
|
| Volcanic eruption turned man's brain into glass, 'froze' brain cells 2,000 years ago, scientists find Posted: 06 Oct 2020 06:09 AM PDT  Italian scientists found intact brain cells in a man who was killed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
|
| Trump and coronavirus: Viral picture shows White House chief of staff rubbing his head during president’s health briefing Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:39 AM PDT  The Reuters picture comes from Dr Sean Conley's press briefing on Sunday
|
| The Texas cop who shot Black man Jonathan Price — who family say was breaking up a fight — has been charged with murder Posted: 06 Oct 2020 03:15 AM PDT  Officer Shaun Lucas was arrested and jailed three days after shooting Jonathan Price at the Kiwk Check gas station in Wolfe City, Texas.
|
| Voters sue Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over his order to shutter ballot drop-off locations in Texas Posted: 05 Oct 2020 09:41 AM PDT  Abbott forced two of Texas' Democratic strongholds to close a number of drop-off sites which had already opened
|
| Decoy GPS turtle eggs inspired by Breaking Bad used to catch poachers Posted: 05 Oct 2020 09:17 AM PDT  Decoy sea turtle eggs loaded with tracking devices inspired by the TV show Breaking Bad could be used to catch poachers, a study has found. Researchers at the University of Kent equipped the 3D-printed eggs with GPS trackers and planted them in 101 nests on beaches in Costa Rica. One in four was taken, the team reported in the journal Current Biology. Scientists tracked the stolen eggs as far as 85 miles as they were handed off to traffickers to be sold to restaurants and bars, where they are eaten as a delicacy. Co-author Kim Williams-Guillen, of US conservation non-profit Paso Pacifico, said she had been inspired to invent the device, dubbed the InvestEGGator, by the tactics of narcotics police in TV shows such as Breaking Bad and The Wire. In one episode of Breaking Bad, which chronicles a chemistry teacher's transformation into a drug smuggler, the US Drug Enforcement Agency places a tracking device on a tank of chemicals in an attempt to catch the traffickers. "Turtle eggs basically look like ping pong balls, and we wanted to know where they were going - put those two ideas together and you have the InvestEGGator," she said.
|
| Thai protesters spark interest in 1976 university massacre Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:46 PM PDT  Anti-government protests challenging the institutions of Thailand's traditional ruling class are not just prompting intense debate about the country's future. Academics and researchers say they're seeing a surge in the number of people wanting to learn about a massacre of students 44 years ago that mainstream Thai history books ignore. At Bangkok's Thammasat University last week, students who were exploring connections to the troubled past took photographs for "then and now" comparisons to the bloodletting that took place on the campus on Oct. 6, 1976.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment