| Bush's 2004 strategist says 'people's hair would be on fire' if Bush, Obama had used the White House as a re-election prop Posted: 27 Aug 2020 10:00 PM PDT  President Trump walked from the White House to a stage on the South Lawn to give his Republican National Convention acceptance speech Thursday night, turning "the People's House" into "a partisan prop like no politician has ever done before," Michael D. Shear writes at The New York Times.> This is the image people have in their heads when they write government ethics laws. pic.twitter.com/8ljWmw7pCK> > -- Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) August 27, 2020"Previous presidents have sought to carefully navigate the propriety of mixing campaigning with governing," Shear noted, and while a few have announced their re-election campaigns from inside the White House, none has used it for such an "overtly political event," with "live crowds flanked by giant Jumbotrons on either side of the White House, serving as immense campaign billboards." If Barack Obama or George W. Bush had tried such a stunt during their re-election campaigns, "people's hair would be on fire," Bush's 2004 campaign chief strategist, Matthew Dowd, said on ABC News.> .@matthewjdowd: "I never thought I would see what I'm seeing tonight on the South Lawn. > > I can't imagine what would have happened if we had done that in 2004 or if Barack Obama had done that in 2012...people's hair would be on fire." https://t.co/AL3W4wottM RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/qy1yItFEzi> > -- ABC News (@ABC) August 28, 2020"It's not only, I believe, unethical, misuse of government power," Dowd added. "It may be illegal, what's happening on the South Lawn, and a bad modeling of behavior in the midst of a COVID crisis."None of the Bushes participated in this year's RNC, nor did any Cheneys, Reagans, or McCains. Also, "several dozen former staffers from Sen. Mitt Romney's (R-Utah) presidential campaign, the George W. Bush administration, and the campaign and Senate staff of former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have signed on to an effort to elect Joe Biden," Politico reported Thursday. "For the Romney and McCain staffers, they're working to elect the same man they tried to defeat in 2012 and 2008, respectively." (Dowd was not among the Bush alumni who signed a pro-Biden letter.)But perhaps Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) had the most succinct, on-brand response to Trump's use of the White House as a campaign prop. > Get off our lawn.> > -- Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) August 28, 2020More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathingly funny cartoons about the Republican National Convention Trump doesn't want to see Harris as first woman president, claims people are calling for Ivanka Trump instead McConnell inexplicably claims that Democrats want to tell Americans 'how many hamburgers you can eat'
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| Protests erupt at Portland police building, mayor's condo Posted: 28 Aug 2020 09:49 PM PDT  Fires set outside a police union building that's a frequent site for protests in Portland, Oregon, prompted police to declare a riot early Saturday and detain several demonstrators. An accelerant was used to ignite a mattress and other debris that was laid against the door of the Portland Police Association building, police said in a statement. As officers approached to move demonstrators away from the building and extinguish the fire, objects including rocks were thrown at them, police said.
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| 'I didn’t know it was going to be this bad': Cameron Parish, Louisiana, bears brunt of Laura's wrath Posted: 27 Aug 2020 02:25 PM PDT  A tiny beach town in southwestern Louisiana bore the brunt of Hurricane Laura as winds estimated at 150 mph demolished nearly everything in its path.
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| The Pine Gulch fire in Colorado is the largest in the state's history, ripping through more than 139,000 acres Posted: 28 Aug 2020 11:16 PM PDT  Three major fires burn in Colorado, with the Pine Gulch fire reaching over 139,000 acres, the largest in the state's history.
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| Sarah Palin can sue New York Times for defamation: court ruling Posted: 28 Aug 2020 03:06 PM PDT  A federal judge on Friday rejected the New York Times' bid to dismiss Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit over a 2017 editorial she said falsely linked her to a mass shooting. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said that while much of Palin's case was circumstantial, it was strong enough for a jury to find the Times and former editorial page editor James Bennet acted with "actual malice by clear and convincing evidence." Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor, sued over a June 14, 2017 editorial published after an Alexandria, Virginia, shooting that wounded four people, including then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
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| In pictures: Thousands gather for historic March on Washington Posted: 28 Aug 2020 03:04 PM PDT  Some 50,000 supporters packed DC's National Mall to demand racial justice and urge people to vote.
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| Japan’s Longest-Serving PM, Shinzo Abe, Quits in Bid to ‘Escape’ Potential Prosecution Posted: 28 Aug 2020 05:29 AM PDT  Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, decided to resign Friday ostensibly because of his health, but also because he fears the unpleasant and unhealthy conditions of a Japanese prison. At a press conference, he cited his painful stomach condition ulcerative colitis as the reason for stepping down, but he leaves at a time when his ratings are plummeting and he is under at least one criminal investigation, with the public clamoring for the reopening of other cases.Abe is not resigning; he is escaping. He is under investigation by the Japanese prosecutors for violations of election laws, similar to those his former handpicked justice minister is now being tried for in the lower courts of Tokyo. Testimony in that case may implicate Abe in the political scandal as well. Abe's efforts to shield himself from investigation by Japan's authorities have fallen apart. A high-ranking member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), of which Abe also serves as president, told The Daily Beast on conditions of anonymity, "If Abe had been able to stack the prosecutor's office with his choice—he'd still be clinging to power. His choice for the next head of the National Police Agency, Itaru Nakamura, was sidelined this month and Abe fears being arrested by either the prosecutors or the police. Resignation now allows him to escape a lot of scrutiny." Nakamura was the high-ranking police chief that ended the rape investigation of Abe's unofficial biographer.A source in the Ministry of Justice told The Daily Beast, "It's a done deal. Abe resigns taking 'social punishment' and several criminal investigations into his conduct are going to be closed." Former special prosecutor Nobuo Gohara says, "It doesn't seem like a coincidence that he resigns the same week a criminal trial has started in which Abe's involvement will become a central issue." The Tweet of DefeatThis year, Abe's approval ratings sank as low as 27 percent in opinion polls. You'll see many things cited in the Japanese press in the coming days about what caused Abe's grip on power and popular support to fail. There have certainly been many gaffes this year. He ignored the growing threat of the novel coronavirus due to his obsessive desire to hold the Olympic Games, which meant that Tokyo had to appear safe. His plan to distribute two face masks to every household, when masks were in short supply, was an expensive disaster. The masks were too small, dirty, and they were slow to be delivered. They were ridiculed as "Abe No Mask," which sounds much like "Abenomics" when said in Japanese. Abenomics was the PM's much-touted fiscal policy that involved the imaginary "arrows" of monetary easing and financial reforms, but the overhaul never came and the policy was a total failure. Abe claimed that Japan's "if you don't test, you don't know" coronavirus policy had worked fantastically, until it failed and the infection rates began shooting up again. This was accelerated by his obstinate push for the implementation of a weirdly named promotional campaign,"Go to Travel," which ended up translating for many people to "Go to Quarantine" as the pandemic resurged. What has derailed his popularity isn't his poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic, but an ill-timed attempt to consolidate his power in the midst of it. SayonaraAbe (in Japanese) was trending on Twitter months ago. The end of the Abe era began with a single tweet that started his downward spiral in May. There is some irony in a prime minister who invested so much energy controlling Japan's mainstream media being taken down by social media. On the evening of May 9, there was a tweet by a 35-year-old female office worker that sparked an inferno of public dissent. The resulting tweetstorm was fueled by Japan's usually apolitical celebrities and former prosecutors. Even LDP members expressed dissent.The content of the tweet seems rather prosaic. "I protest the proposed changes in the Public Prosecutor Office Laws." There were 8 million tweets with the hashtag "I protest the proposed revision of the Public Prosecutors Office Law," by May 14. Here's the backstory. Abe has slowly exerted his control over government agencies, public broadcaster NHK, and even the media. In 2014, he created a Cabinet Personnel Bureau that gave the cabinet control over the appointment of hundreds of top-level bureaucrats. Ambitious government workers paid attention, and have since worked hard not to offend him and gain favor. He has incentivized them to cover up scandals without being directly asked. He has wined and dined the press to curry favor, and bullied them relentlessly when displeased. Japan's press-freedom ranking was No. 22 when he took office; it now ranks 66th. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Abe and the ruling LDP lobbied for changes in the constitution that would give the cabinet absolute authority in an emergency. The attempt failed but even conservative magazine PRESIDENT called it in an opportunistic and despicable grab for power. When he tried to put the public prosecutor's office under his thumb this summer, he was going too far. Fatally Wounded The move against the prosecutors began on Jan. 31, when the Abe cabinet decided to delay the retirement of Japan's second most powerful prosecutor, Hiromu Kurokawa. Kurokawa was reportedly very close to Abe and cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga. The press referred to him as "the guardian deity of the Abe cabinet." The majority of prosecutors are required by law to retire at 63; Kurokawa was allowed to stay on. Abe claimed this was not a problem because his cabinet had "reinterpreted the law" to make it possible. The opposition, legal scholars, and the public vehemently disagreed.The administration stood its ground but later proposed an amendment to the Public Prosecutor Laws. This was seen as a retroactive attempt to justify keeping Kurokawa in office, and clearing the way for replacing the top prosecutor in Japan. Former Prosecutor-General Kunihiro Matsuo and other ex-prosecutors wrote a protest letter to the Ministry of Justice stating explicitly that they believed the revisions were an attempt by the Abe administration to have prosecutors act in accordance with their will. The letter quoted John Locke: "Wherever law ends, tyranny begins." Abe defended the bill in parliament, "There will be no instances of [prosecutorial] personnel affairs being determined arbitrarily," he said. Only 16 percent of the public believed him.Typically, Abe would ramrod the bill into law anyway, as he has done with other unpopular legislation. By May 18, his approval ratings had plummeted to 34 percent. The same day, the LDP agreed to temporarily table the legislation. That evening, more than 600 lawyers submitted legal briefs to the Tokyo prosecutors office accusing Abe of misusing public funds to hold cherry blossom viewing parties for his constituents, a scandal that became known as "Cherryblossom-gate." Bad luck followed Abe's bad decisions. The weekly magazine Bunshun reported that Kurokawa had routinely played mahjong with reporters, gambling on the games in clear contravention of Japanese law. Kurokawa was given an admonishment and allowed to resign. After nearly a decade in power, Abe has become haughty, declaring in parliament last year "I am the nation." He has been winning for a long time, but no one's luck lasts forever. The legislative attempt to subvert the prosecutors may have been, to paraphrase the title of an epic war film, a bill too far. It was later abandoned entirely. Already on Trial? The current investigation of "Cherryblossom-gate" is not the only problem facing Abe. He is being dragged into the high-profile trial of a close friend and supporter. This June, Katsuyuki Kawai, 57, a House of Representative member and his wife, Anri Kawai, 46, a member of the House of Councilors, were indicted on suspicion of handing out millions of yen in cash to politicians and supporters in Hiroshima Prefecture. This was allegedly in return for their efforts to secure votes in the Upper House elections held in July 2019. Abe appointed Katsuyuki minister of justice in September 2019; Katsuyuki resigned on Oct. 31. Their trial began this week.The LDP headquarters provided nearly $1.5 million (150 million yen) or more in campaign funds to Anri Kawai, and some of that money may have been used in bribing local politicians to help round up votes. If Abe himself, as president of the LDP, approved the whopping funding for Anri, he will move into the spotlight.Former Special Prosecutor Nobuo Gohara told The Daily Beast, "It seems clear from the opening statements by the prosecutors in the case of Kawai, that they will show Prime Minister Abe's involvement in this case. For a former minister of justice, hand-picked by Abe to be involved in bribing other politicians—outrageous. Even if Abe can avoid criminal responsibility, he has a moral responsibility in the matter."Gohara sees Abe's inability to stomach his position as part of the stress of not knowing when or if he will be implicated in the current trial. There is a third fire burning under Abe's feet, one known as the Moritomo-gakuen case. In 2017, it became clear that government land valued at nearly $8 million had been sold to a right-wing school operator for $1 million, reportedly at the urging of the prime minister and his wife, Akie. The school was going to be named Abe Elementary. When the scandal came to light, bureaucrats in the ministry of finance altered and destroyed documents to cover up Abe's involvement. One government official, Toshio Akagi, refused to play along and killed himself in protest in March 2018. He left behind incriminating documents that his widow revealed this year. Over 70 percent of the Japanese public now wants a reopening of the investigation into the Morikake case. He didn't learnAbe virtually vanished for a month this summer, avoiding all press conferences and parliamentary discussions. He can now avoid discussing the scandals surrounding him very easily. He has seemingly timed his publicized visits to the hospital this week in a way to make sure that questions about his involvement in corruption cases were not asked. By visiting Keio Hospital on Aug. 24, the day before the Kawai trial, attention was shifted from his role in the case, to whether or not he was going to be able to continue as prime minister. Abe's great escape is not as dramatic as the flight of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, but it's a valiant effort. Abe was Japan's longest reigning prime minister in its constitutional history, but never has so little been accomplished in such a long period of time. If he leaves any legacy at all, it is a number of bills passed into law that were so unpopular they now lie like landmines and may blow up Japan's brittle democracy someday. Those laws include: a draconian conspiracy law that seems right out of the sci-fi film Minority Report; a repressive and Orwellian state secrets law that will muffle the press and whistleblowers; and the Peace Preservation Act, which allows ostensibly pacifist Japan to wage war.This was his second term in office after a disastrous stint from 2006 to 2007. He was able to resurface due to the support of the right-wing Shinto cult Nippon Kaigi, which will continue to yield great power in parliament long after Abe. They say those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it. Perhaps the root of Abe's folly is that he is a well-known historical revisionist, the grandson of a war criminal, who has never been able to admit to the atrocities committed by Japan in World War II; many of his political appointees and allies admired Hitler. He's been so busy trying to deny the past that it seems Abe can't even learn from his own history. His life is a re-run.He leaves office much the same way he did when he stepped down in 2007: unable to handle the job while mired in scandals involving his cronies; unpopular, considered incompetent, and irrelevant. He will not be missed. 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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| Trump doesn't want to see Harris as first woman president, claims people are calling for Ivanka Trump instead Posted: 29 Aug 2020 05:58 AM PDT  After delivering what pundits described as a relatively low-key, or at least boring, acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, President Trump was back to his free-wheeling ways Friday night during a campaign rally in Londonderry, New Hampshire. The president himself acknowledged it was a "different kind of speech" and said he would have been criticized for "being slightly radical" if he adopted the same tone and material during the convention.The New Hampshire speech dealt quite a bit with nationwide protests against police brutality, with Trump describing the demonstrators as "thugs" and "anarchists" who he claimed could have killed Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his wife near the White House on Friday if not for the police presence in the area. But he also targeted the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).Likely alluding to reports that the Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, may only be eyeing one term in the Oval Office, Trump said that while he would like to see the first woman president, he doesn't want it to be the "not competent" Harris. "I don't want to see a woman get into that position the way she'd do it," he said.It turns out he'd rather see the feat achieved through familial connections. Citing some nebulous sources, Trump, to the reported enjoyment of the crowd, said "they're all saying 'we want Ivanka,'" referring to his daughter, Ivanka Trump. "I don't blame them." Read more at Reuters and The Hill.More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathingly funny cartoons about the Republican National Convention McConnell inexplicably claims that Democrats want to tell Americans 'how many hamburgers you can eat' Jacob Blake's family, attorneys, witness dispute Kenosha police union's account of shooting
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| Kenosha police chief explains why suspect was able to walk away after allegedly shooting 3 people Posted: 28 Aug 2020 01:40 PM PDT  At a press conference on Friday, Kenosha, Wis., Police Chief Dan Miskinis responded to a question about why suspect Kyle Rittenhouse was able to walk by law enforcement after allegedly shooting three people in the aftermath of Jacob Blake being shot by police.
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| ‘Gutting experience’: California fire evacuees begin to return home to assess the damage Posted: 27 Aug 2020 12:55 PM PDT  As Cal Fire gains footing on blazes across the northern part of the state, many residents are realizing they have no home to return toAs firefighters continued beating back the huge fires burning through northern California, thousands of evacuees began to return home.Many residents across the region face uncertain, unsettling days ahead as officials assess damage from the blazes, which have killed at least seven people, scorched more than 1.2m acres and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes and structures.A bout of calm, cool weather and humidity in recent days has broken the prolonged, scorching heatwave and freakish dry lightning storm that set off some of the largest conflagrations on record in California."We're starting to see a lot of great progress," said Mark Brunton, a battalion chief with Cal Fire, the state's fire agency. Crews had been able to hold a line against the northern edge of the CZU Lightning Complex fire, which had threatened to spill into Silicon Valley, he said at a press conference early on Thursday morning. "As far as the operation to fully extinguish it, it's a slow, painstaking process," he said.Although climate scientists and firefighters have "known for a long time" that fires in California are going to get more extreme and more destructive due to climate change, the scope and size of the current flames are "surprising", said Chris Field, who directs the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment."It's shocking to see the number of fires occurring concurrently – just hundreds," Field told the Guardian. "And it's shocking to see the fires grow to over a million acres. This is a truly gigantic event."Despite successes in containing the flames in that region, they grew about 200 acres overnight and crews were continuing to search for two men who had gone missing. Firefighters and utility workers are clearing debris to make way for those returning home.Many, however, were left with nowhere to return.Sarah Fulop-Furlano, 41, had evacuated with her husband and three children nearly two weeks ago, not long after she saw the first flashes of lightning behind the redwood trees that stood near the family's home in a remote community called Bonny Doon in the Santa Cruz mountains.She assumed they would soon return to join their cat, Mama Kitty and their five chickens. As the blaze moved furiously up the mountainside, it became increasingly clear that wouldn't be the case."It got really big and out of control really fast," Fulop-Furlano said of the fire. As her husband raced toward the house in one last effort to salvage what he could, the sky was glowing orange and he could feel the encroaching heat of the blaze."It was just eerie. There was no sound – no birds, no wildlife, nothing," said Fulop-Furlano. As he stood contemplating what else he could save, a gust of wind blew a children's toy across the driveway, and he knew the flames had arrived.A day after the blaze and still unable to return to their home, Fulop-Furlano recognized her son's burnt tricycle, standing amid smoldering ashes, in a photo that was circulating the internet. "Seeing that photo was the first time it sunk in for me just how devastating this fire was," she said.Some of her neighbors are among those who defied evacuation orders and formed pop-up firecrews that stayed behind to protect their homes from blazes."I know this has been catastrophic across the state and Cal Fire is stretched so thin, but there was just a mentality that 'If Cal Fire isn't up here, we're going to do it ourselves'," she said.Now, the Fulop-Furlano family is undergoing the "gutting experience of trying to itemize what we lost", knowing that the toughest losses are the priceless heirlooms that can't be claimed on an insurance list.Iterations of her story are scattered all across and around the San Francisco Bay area, where residents have been confronted with a barrage of blazes – including the second and third largest wildfires on record – before California's peak fire season has even kicked off.The LNU Lightning Complex fires, searing through California's wine country, had burned through nearly 369,000 acres and in recent days had been neck and neck with the concurrent SCU Lightning Complex fire east of the San Francisco Bay for the rank of second largest fire in recorded California history.Though reinforcements from other states and countries have aided fire crews, spread thin as hundreds of concurrent fires burned across the state, harsh, dry weather conditions over the preceding fortnight has desiccated fire-fueling vegetation, which fed and stoked giant, unwieldy blazes.Fresh evacuation orders were issued after the LNU fire jumped a highway and threatened homes in Colusa and Yolo counties. The fire has killed at least five people, including Douglas Mai, 82, and Leon Bone, 64, of Vacaville.Smoke from fires across the west has carried across the country, choking some regions with toxic smoke – and leaving those with respiratory conditions who are already susceptible to deadly complications from contracting Covid-19, especially vulnerable.Evacuees throughout the state have had to weigh the risks of staying with family or at evacuation centers, where they might spread or contract coronavirus, against the costs of isolating up in pricey hotel rooms or staying in their vehicles.Wildfire scientists and state officials have warned of a bleak outlook over the coming months. "We are putting every single asset we possibly can, pointing every conceivable resource, to battle these historic wildfires," Governor Gavin Newsom said at a press conference on Wednesday. The onslaught of flames this month, "puts us not only on pace to have a historic wildfire season but actually sets the pace for a historic wildfire season", he said.Autumn, when powerful offshore winds have traditionally stoked the biggest, most destructive fires in California, is still to come. "The fact that we've had really serious fires in August doesn't decrease the risk of serious fires in October and November at all," Field said.Although California's landscape is adapted to fires, climate change has fueled more extreme, destructive blazes – and each day, the risks of bigger and more catastrophic disasters are gaining traction, Field said. "I think of it like – we're in a car, trying to make a sharp turn at 85 miles per hour," he explained. As the climate crisis accelerates, "it's that we could barely stay on the road, and now the risk is we're going to swerve off."
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| Kenosha police union gives its version of Blake shooting Posted: 28 Aug 2020 03:33 PM PDT  The Kenosha police union on Friday offered the most detailed accounting to date on officers' perspective of the moments leading up to police shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back, saying he had a knife and fought with officers, putting one of them in a headlock and shrugging off two attempts to stun him. The statement from Brendan Matthews, attorney for the Kenosha Professional Police Association, goes into more detail than anything that has been released by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is investigating. The Sunday shooting of Blake, a Black man, put the nation's spotlight on Wisconsin and triggered a series of peaceful protests and violence, including the killing of two people by an armed civilian on Tuesday.
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| First confirmed case of COVID-19 reinfection is ‘not surprising,’ doctors say Posted: 29 Aug 2020 09:12 AM PDT  Researchers in Hong Kong confirmed the first known case of coronavirus reinfection, but many doctors and public health officials say it isn't that surprising given what we know about waning immunity from other coronaviruses.
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| Trump: Police who escorted Rand Paul after RNC should receive a 'medal of some kind' Posted: 29 Aug 2020 07:59 AM PDT  Speaking to a crowd in Manchester, New Hampshire, President Donald Trump said Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul "walked out to a bunch of thugs" Thursday.
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| Riot in Sweden after anti-Muslim Danish leader banned Posted: 29 Aug 2020 07:24 AM PDT  At least 10 people were arrested, and several police officers injured, in violence which broke out in southern Sweden after an anti-Muslim Danish politician was blocked from attending a Koran-burning rally, police said Saturday.
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| Black Lives Matter shirt worn in class sparks death threats, California teacher says Posted: 27 Aug 2020 03:36 PM PDT  "I can't afford to go to a hotel and I can't go home," she said.
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| Delta has banned 240 passengers for refusing to wear masks during flights, as it works to make flying feel safe again Posted: 28 Aug 2020 08:46 AM PDT  Delta Air Lines has banned about 240 passengers for refusing to wear masks, CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees on Thursday.
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| 2 officers fired tasers at Jacob Blake before he was shot Posted: 28 Aug 2020 05:23 AM PDT  Two other officers at the scene were identified as Vincent Arenas and Brittany Meronek.
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| 7 suspected rebels, 1 Indian soldier killed in Kashmir Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:53 AM PDT  Seven suspected rebels and an Indian army soldier were killed in two gunbattles in Indian-administered Kashmir in the last 24 hours, officials said Saturday. Three militants and a soldier died early Saturday after troops and police launched a search operation in a village in southern Pulwama district, said Col. Rajesh Kalia, an Indian army spokesperson. Four militants were killed and another was arrested during the operation, a police statement said.
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| 6 health benefits of turmeric and how to add it to your diet Posted: 28 Aug 2020 11:24 AM PDT  Most of turmeric's health benefits come from its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties which can potentially ward off heart disease.
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| Thai submarine purchase hits rough seas Posted: 28 Aug 2020 10:13 AM PDT  Thailand's intention to buy two more submarines from China has run into vociferous resistance, with the country's main opposition party questioning the need to go ahead with the acquisition against the backdrop of the economic slump.
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| Boeing grounds several 787 planes after manufacturing defect found Posted: 28 Aug 2020 09:50 AM PDT  Boeing has found manufacturing defects on some of its 787 long-range airliners in areas where parts of the fuselage are joined together, the latest setback for the aircraft maker whose 737 Max is still grounded after two deadly crashes.
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| Weakened Laura still carries a punch as it heads toward Atlantic Ocean Posted: 29 Aug 2020 06:25 AM PDT  The remnants of Hurricane Laura continued to weaken Saturday but it may bring tornadoes to North Carolina and the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia region.
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| I'm Billy Graham's granddaughter. Evangelical support for Donald Trump insults his legacy. Posted: 27 Aug 2020 03:15 PM PDT  By supporting Donald Trump, evangelical leaders are failing us and failing the Gospel. Christian women must step up where our church leaders won't.
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| Stolen Fortnite accounts are being sold on the black market for hundreds of dollars Posted: 29 Aug 2020 05:05 AM PDT  Hackers are using tools that allow them to see if login credentials from past data breaches allow them access to Fortnite accounts.
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| Russian submarine surfaces near Alaska during war exercise Posted: 27 Aug 2020 10:53 AM PDT |
| Kenosha residents say the way police handled the 2 shootings this week tell you all you need to know about whether the city is racist Posted: 28 Aug 2020 02:40 PM PDT  Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been thrust into the national reckoning on racism and police brutality after the shootings of Jacob Blake and protesters.
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| Carbon monoxide kills family of 5 hunkered down for hurricane, Louisiana officials say Posted: 28 Aug 2020 05:54 PM PDT  Even with Laura gone, there's plenty of reason for Louisiana's first responders to worry.
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| Kosovo currently the deadliest country for coronavirus, despite having Europe's youngest population Posted: 28 Aug 2020 09:07 AM PDT  Kosovo has become the world's most deadly country for Covid-19 despite the fact it has Europe's youngest population, as the republic's divided political class struggles to contain the virus. Over the last week, the death rate in Kosovo jumped to 54.2 fatalities per million people, making the republic of 1.8 million the world's leader when it comes to per capita deaths from the virus, according to figures from John Hopkins University. Columbia is in second place, with 50 fatalities per million people. Avdullah Hoti, the prime minister who tested positive for the virus in early August, has warned that the hospitals across the country were running out of beds due to an influx of new Covid cases. He has also said the government was prepared to bring in new restrictions in an effort to contain the virus. Despite Kosovo's young population - 53 percent of its people are under the age of 25 - it has proved particularly vulnerable to the pandemic.
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| U.S. warns Bannon co-defendant against 'inflammatory' social media posts Posted: 28 Aug 2020 12:51 PM PDT  U.S. prosecutors on Friday warned a co-defendant of Steve Bannon, an architect of President Donald Trump's 2016 election, to avoid social media posts that could undermine a corruption trial tied to Trump's effort to build a wall along the Mexican border. In a letter to a federal judge in Manhattan, prosecutors said Brian Kolfage's "steady stream" of often "highly inflammatory" posts about the case created a substantial risk that pretrial publicity could make it hard to find an impartial jury, and a gag order might be needed if it continued. The posts included descriptions of the case as a "witch hunt" and a political effort targeting Trump supporters, including donors to the "We Build the Wall" fundraising campaign led by Kolfage.
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| ‘She was the aggressor’: Former Liberty student alleges sexual encounter with Becki Falwell Posted: 27 Aug 2020 03:26 PM PDT  A former student at the evangelical university opens up about a 2008 incident with the wife of the school's president.
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| Breonna Taylor’s ex-boyfriend says she had nothing to do with alleged drug crimes Posted: 28 Aug 2020 01:00 PM PDT  The ex-boyfriend of Breonna Taylor speaks out and claims she was not involved in illegal activities. Breonna Taylor's ex-boyfriend has come forward in an attempt to clear up her alleged involvement in any criminal activity. Jamarcus Glover, 30, was the target of the narcotics investigation leading to the execution of the no-knock warrant that resulted in the police shooting and killing Taylor, the Courier-Journal reports.
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| UAE formally ends Israel boycott amid US-brokered deal Posted: 29 Aug 2020 01:38 AM PDT  The ruler of the United Arab Emirates issued a decree Saturday formally ending the country's boycott of Israel amid a U.S.-brokered deal to normalize relations between the two countries. The announcement now allows trade and commerce between the UAE, home to oil-rich Abu Dhabi and skyscraper-studded Dubai, and Israel, home to a thriving diamond trade, pharmaceutical companies and tech start-ups. The announcement further cements the Aug 13 deal opening up relations between the two nations, which required Israel to halt its contentious plan to annex occupied West Bank land sought by the Palestinians.
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| Cops found a barefoot missing Memphis girl in Biscayne Park. She led them to her sister. Posted: 28 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Biscayne Park Detective Rodney Schwartz rode his police motorcycle over to Griffin Boulevard early Tuesday morning after being told about a young girl who was "wandering aimlessly." When he found her, Sandra Bates, 13, was barefoot and disheveled and had that "thousand-yard stare," Schwartz said. Schwartz's search through databases was fruitless.
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| Alexander Lukashenko brings his 16-year-old son onto frontline as protests endanger succession plans Posted: 29 Aug 2020 05:28 AM PDT  Pictured last weekend sporting body armour and an assault rifle, Belarus's embattled dictator has shown the world that he does not plan to go down without a fight. Yet as Alexander Lukashenko defies protesters calling for his downfall, it is not just his own fate that hangs in the balance. So does that of his 15-year-old son, Nikolai - his presumed heir to power. Ever since he was old enough to walk, Nikolai has been paraded at his father's side, meeting world leaders at the highest level. By the age of 11, he had been pictured with everyone from Barack Obama and the Pope through to China's Xi Jinping. Last weekend, he also had a starring role in his father's belligerent photo op, dressed in military fatigues and likewise clutching an AK-47. One picture showed him and his father disembarking from a helicopter, accompanied by the riot police Mr Lukashenko has used to crack down on protesters. Another showed Nikolai guarding Mr Lukashenko in his palace in Minsk, as thousands demonstrated outside. The constant photos of the pair together over the years have fuelled fears that Mr Lukashenko wants a North Korean-style dynastic regime - something opponents regard as their worst nightmare.
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| Black Lives Matter isn’t a civil rights movement: Civil rights pioneer Posted: 27 Aug 2020 01:40 PM PDT  Civil rights pioneer Clarence Henderson discusses division in the U.S., violent protests across the country and progress made for and by Black Americans.
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| McConnell inexplicably claims that Democrats want to tell Americans 'how many hamburgers you can eat' Posted: 27 Aug 2020 06:27 PM PDT  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asked Americans to "support Republican Senate candidates across the country and re-elect my friend, President Donald Trump" during the Republican National Convention on Thursday night — including making an ominous (and false) threat that Democrats are prepared to take away your hamburgers if you don't.McConnell has been a bit of a reluctant ally — and even occasional foe — of the president's, even initially announcing he had no plans to talk at the convention before walking the statement back. But speaking from the verdant fields of Kentucky, McConnell stressed the importance of the election for conservative voters. Democrats "want to tell you when you can go to work, when your kid can go to school," McConnell claimed. "They want to tax your job out of existence, and then send you a government check for unemployment."He added that Democrats "want to tell you what kind of car you can drive, what sources of information are credible, and even how many hamburgers you can eat."> 'They want to tell you what kind of car you can drive, what sources of information are credible, and even how many hamburgers you can eat' — Rep. Mitch McConnell thinks he knows what Democrats are all about RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/8FVJvi032X> > — NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 28, 2020While it's not true that Democrats are seeking to regulate hamburgers, CNN's Daniel Dale noted that the claim "may, or may not, be an exaggerated reference to Sen. Kamala Harris's musings about dietary guidelines, which are not mandates."Either way, McConnell's intention was clear: "With two more liberal senators, we cannot undo the damage [Democrats have] done," he said.More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathingly funny cartoons about the Republican National Convention Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman dies at 43 Biden's latest ad puts Trump's weirdest moments and empty rallies to a Bad Bunny song
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| Researchers at the University of Arizona say they stopped a coronavirus outbreak before it spread by testing students' poop Posted: 29 Aug 2020 04:09 AM PDT  Researchers at the University of Arizona say they may have prevented an outbreak of COVID-19 using wastewater-based epidemiology.
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