| Trump’s Voter Fraud ‘Proof’ Turned Out to Be the Real Fraud Posted: 26 Aug 2020 07:24 PM PDT  Citizens throughout the nation are counting on using mail ballots to vote in November without placing their lives at risk. President Donald Trump is determined to prevent them from doing so, if they live in heavily Democratic metropolitan areas, that is. Trump claims that allowing widespread mail balloting is an invitation to massive and systematic fraud, saying: "What they're doing is using COVID to steal an election. They're using COVID to defraud the American people." But when a judge ordered Trump's campaign to come up with evidence for the president's fraud claims, the campaign produced absolutely nothing. Still, there's ample evidence that if Trump gets his way, hundreds of thousands of duly registered voters will not be able to vote, or will have their ballots go uncounted—more than enough to sway the outcome of a close election.On June 29, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit demanding the voiding of the efforts of Pennsylvania's state officials to facilitate mail voting during the pandemic, pursuant to a recently enacted law. Among other things, Pennsylvania is allowing the use of ballot drop boxes, so voters can avoid returning ballots through the mails. In light of revelations that Trump's recently installed Postmaster General (and fundraiser), Louis DeJoy, deliberately engineered new inefficiencies and delays at the Postal Service (particularly in Philadelphia), the need for drop boxes is even more clear. But that's only made the Trump campaign more determined to prevent their use. Al Gore: If Trump Refuses to Concede, the Military Would Run Him OutAccording to the Trump campaign's complaint, Pennsylvania voting officials "have sacrificed the sanctity of in-person voting at the altar of unmonitored and unsecured mail-in voting and have exponentially enhanced the threat that fraudulent or otherwise ineligible ballots will be cast and counted in the upcoming General Election." Trump's complaint uses the word "fraud" no fewer than 51 times. Given the centrality of Trump's fraud claims, on Aug. 13 the Pittsburgh federal judge hearing the case, Nicholas Ranjan (a Trump appointee), ordered the campaign to provide any and all evidence supporting its allegations "concerning potential or actual fraud or voter misconduct," including "from the use of drop boxes, absentee ballots, or vote-by-mail." When the Daily Beast asked the Trump campaign for a copy of the materials it produced, the campaign declined to share one. It later became clear why, when the campaign's interrogatory responses were disclosed. The filings contained virtually no evidence of mail-in or drop-box ballot fraud, let alone fraud of a nature and scale remotely sufficient to change the outcome of a statewide election. Instead, the document contained a grab bag of examples of campaign irregularities, errors and misconduct, many taken from newspaper articles, and none substantiating the massive mail voting fraud claims the campaign made in its complaint. Indeed, the campaign was reduced to making the absurd contention that it does "not need to demonstrate any evidence of fraud to prove" its case, even though the campaign's complaint was laced with, and grounded on, claims of a grave risk of fraud. Of course, it's nothing new for Trump and his associates to make claims without evidence. Apart from the president's now regular rants about "rigging" the upcoming election, Attorney General William Barr has repeatedly contended that "if you have wholesale mail-in voting, it substantially increases the risk of fraud." Barr has even joined Trump in asserting that foreign nations are poised to engage in massive counterfeiting of mail in ballots to sway the outcome of the election. But when asked if he had any evidence whatsoever to support his claims, Barr has repeatedly admitted, most recently before Congress, that he has none, and instead is relying entirely on what he calls "common sense." A senior official of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently contradicted Barr, stating that the intelligence community has no evidence that foreign powers intend to manipulate mail-in ballots. In fact, as election experts have demonstrated, Barr's claim that mail ballots are a likely source for massive, systematic fraud—let alone a foreign power's scheme to sway an election—is entirely contrary to common sense. A database maintained by the conservative Heritage Foundation indicates that, over a period of nine years, there were all of 15 cases of voter fraud in the five states that employ universal mail-in voting; furthermore, as election expert Rick Hasen has explained, it would likely require thousands of counterfeit or otherwise fraudulent ballots to sway the outcome of a state's election, something that would be virtually impossible to carry off. A senior FBI official similarly recently stated that "[i]t's extraordinarily difficult to change a federal election outcome through [coordinated] fraud alone."Trump lost a round when the Pennsylvania federal court case was temporarily stayed by the judge hearing it in favor of allowing the Pennsylvania law issues in the case to first be addressed by state courts; but it will likely be revised. In the meantime, the Trump campaign can be expected to continue to peddle its bogus fraud claims in every court in which it can be heard. But there is now no doubt that the Trump challenges to mail voting are grounded on phantom, and indeed, fantastically fraudulent, claims of fraud. But there's nothing speculative about the consequences of allowing Trump to get away with his scheme to suppress and limit mail voting. If Trump succeeds, thousands of eligible voters will be prevented from casting their votes, or will complete ballots that are not counted. The Washington Post reported that more than 534,000 mail ballots went uncounted during the recent primaries, many in battleground states, including because signatures were rejected or ballots were received past the deadlines. The vast majority of these ballots were cast by duly registered citizens who had every right to vote. At the end of the day, of course, the Trump campaign has no actual interest in preventing voter fraud; rather, the president wants to make it even more difficult for people who reasonably fear going to crowded polling places in heavily Democratic metropolitan areas from effectively voting by mail, and thereby from voting at all. That is a classic voter disenfranchisement scheme, and it is directly at odds with the principles of democracy.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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| Laura thrashes Louisiana, nearby states face tornado threats Posted: 27 Aug 2020 01:15 AM PDT  One of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S., Laura barreled across Louisiana on Thursday, shearing off roofs and killing at least six people while carving a destructive path hundreds of miles inland. A full assessment of the damage wrought by the Category 4 system was likely to take days, and the threat of additional damage loomed as new tornado warnings were issued after dark in Arkansas and Mississippi even as the storm weakened into a depression. "It is clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute, catastrophic damage that we thought was likely," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said.
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| Iranian man sentenced to nine years in prison for beheading daughter while she slept in 'honour killing' Posted: 28 Aug 2020 06:25 AM PDT  An Iranian has been sentenced to nine years in jail for beheading his teenaged daughter in her sleep, local media reported Friday, adding that the mother wants him executed. The so-called "honour" killing of 14-year-old Romina Ashrafi on May 21 sparked widespread outrage, with media condemning "institutionalised violence" in the Islamic republic. Media said Romina was decapitated at the family home in the village of Talesh in the northern province of Gilan. "Despite the judicial authorities' insistence on a 'special handling' of the case, the verdict has terrified me and my family," Rana Dashti, the mother, told ILNA news agency. "I don't want my husband to return to our village ever again," she said, calling for the verdict to be reviewed and changed to "execution". Having lived with the man for 15 years, Dashti said she now fears for the life of the rest of her family. Ebtekar newspaper said at the time of Romina's killing that Iran's "eye for an eye" retributive justice does not apply to a father who kills his child, for which the customary sentence is jail time and fines. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has "expressed his regrets" following the girl's killing and called for the speedy passing of several anti-violence bills. Romina had reportedly run away after the father refused to give permission for her to marry a man 15 years her senior. But she was detained by authorities and taken home, despite having pleaded with a judge that she feared for her life if returned. The man she wanted to marry, Bahman Khavari, was sentenced to two years in prison, local media said, without specifying the charge. The legal age of marriage for women in Iran is 13.
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| China arrests 12 fleeing Hong Kong by speedboat: city police Posted: 28 Aug 2020 05:33 AM PDT  A dozen people fleeing Hong Kong on a speedboat, including an activist arrested under the draconian new national security law, have been captured by China, police in the city said Friday.
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| A soup kitchen in Pakistan has been serving hot meals for 20 years, but is being pushed to the limit in the pandemic Posted: 28 Aug 2020 08:32 AM PDT  The kitchen, Khana Ghar, charges a token amount for each meal so that customers feel like they've earned it and "their self-respect remains intact."
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| Fake cancer drugs were cooked up in Alabama man’s kitchen — some with hair, feds say Posted: 27 Aug 2020 04:01 PM PDT  Patrick Bishop, 54, earned millions selling the bogus cancer treatments, according to court filings. Prosecutors said he spent it on houses and luxury cars.
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| Teacher reinstated after parents complained about Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ posters Posted: 27 Aug 2020 12:13 PM PDT  A Texas school district backtracked after placing English teacher Taylor Lifka on leave over the posters in her virtual classroom.
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| Detained Colombia businessman was negotiating with Iran for Venezuela, lawyers say Posted: 28 Aug 2020 05:13 AM PDT |
| Arizona GOP worried Trump and McSally will cost them the state: “Arizonans are fed up” Posted: 27 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Trump and McSally's sagging poll numbers now threaten to flip both chambers of the state legislature to Democrats
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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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| Forecasters eye two developing systems in the Atlantic: Nana, Omar could be next up on the heels of Hurricane Laura Posted: 28 Aug 2020 08:41 AM PDT  Although the remnants of Hurricane Laura are still drenching parts of the US Friday, there are already concerns about more storms stirring in the Atlantic.
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| Teen who held BLM event gets $2500 bill for police overtime Posted: 28 Aug 2020 02:36 PM PDT |
| Kim Jong-un inspects the damage as North Korea reels from floods and Typhoon Bavi Posted: 27 Aug 2020 09:49 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a rice-growing area devastated by a typhoon on Thursday, as the reclusive country reels from back-to-back natural and manmade catastrophes. Photos released by state media of the authoritarian leader inspecting fields alongside mask-wearing officials appeared to be framed to convey his benevolence as citizens struggle to cope with the impact of severe monsoon flooding, and the economic toll of the pandemic and ongoing global sanctions. Typhoon Bavi slammed into the country's southwestern province of Hwanghae, dealing a damaging blow to its corn stalks, rice paddies and other crops, and raising fears of increased hunger among an already malnourished population. Ten million people are reported by the United Nations to be suffering from food insecurity, living from harvest to harvest. The country also suffers from years of neglected infrastructure, which exacerbates the effects of natural disasters.
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| Hong Kong: China arrests 10 after intercepting boat 'fleeing Hong Kong' Posted: 28 Aug 2020 07:48 AM PDT  Activists were among those detained off Guangdong province on Sunday, Hong Kong media say.
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| Mail ballots from nursing home residents, entire family didn’t count in Florida primary Posted: 28 Aug 2020 10:58 AM PDT  Wayne Tinker was among more than 262,000 Miami-Dade County voters who cast a mail ballot in last week's primary elections — and among the thousands of voters whose ballots didn't count.
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| Virtually the Best: Kids’ Furniture for an A+ Home-Learning Setup Posted: 28 Aug 2020 08:00 AM PDT |
| Man arrested after wallet stolen from California firefighter battling wildfires Posted: 27 Aug 2020 07:59 PM PDT  The sheriff of Santa Cruz County said the suspect admitted the theft and wrote a letter of apology.
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| Republican senator, swarmed by protesters after Trump speech, calls for FBI probe Posted: 27 Aug 2020 11:09 PM PDT  Republican Senator Rand Paul on Friday called on the FBI to investigate a crowd of protesters that swarmed him as he departed the White House after listening to U.S. President Donald Trump accept his party's nomination for re-election. Paul told Fox News Channel he believes the group chanting his name and pushing against his impromptu police escort was paid to incite a riot. "I believe there are going to be people who were involved with the attack on us that actually were paid to come here and are not from Washington, D.C., and are sort of paid to be anarchists," Paul said.
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| Hurricane Laura's 'unsurvivable' storm surge: It looks like Louisiana was spared, but some rural areas likely hit hard Posted: 28 Aug 2020 04:38 AM PDT  Gov. John Bel Edwards said Louisiana "caught a break" on storm surge. The National Hurricane Center says the surge was likely as bad as feared.
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| Rights groups call for release of Jordanian cartoonist Posted: 28 Aug 2020 03:15 AM PDT |
| A former SpaceX intern says she reported sexual harassment to HR — and it cost her the opportunity for a full-time job Posted: 28 Aug 2020 08:43 AM PDT  In a new lawsuit, the former SpaceX intern says her manager made inappropriate comments and wanted to take her to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
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| Letters to the Editor: Here's how police can end protests: Stop shooting unarmed Black people Posted: 28 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  People who don't like sometimes nonpeaceful protests should put pressure on police to stop shooting unarmed Black people.
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| Invisible workers: Prison fire crews save lives while incarcerated then left to fend for themselves once released Posted: 28 Aug 2020 08:04 AM PDT  There are currently more than 14,000 firefighters struggling to battle roughly 7,000 blazes in California, many working 24-hour shifts. Among those pushed to the limit, as this year's fire season in California burns an area now the size of the state of Delaware, are approximately 3,100 inmates trained as wildland firefighters.
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| Fox News' Chris Wallace calls out co-hosts for defending armed vigilantes Posted: 27 Aug 2020 02:28 PM PDT  Fox News' Chris Wallace has a brief legal reminder about vigilante justice.On Wednesday, a 17-year-old who appeared to be aligned with an armed vigilante group was arrested after allegedly shooting and killing two people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Tuesday night. Several Fox News contributors and hosts discussed the situation in Kenosha on Thursday, with Katie Pavlich saying "on the topic of vigilante justice, when you have no police around ... then there is a void that is filled."Pavlich's comments spurred Wallace to "push back" against the "implication vigilante justice was understandable or justified by the lack of sufficient police action." But Pavlich and the other hosts tried to talk over Wallace and insist he hadn't heard what was just said. "Just as it's fair to say that rioting and looting is a completely inappropriate response to George Floyd or Jacob Blake, vigilante justice is a completely inappropriate response to the rioting on the street," Wallace eventually said, forcefully reminding them "vigilante justice is a crime."> Wallace pushes back in the next segment> > "I've got to push back ... there seemed to be the implication that somehow vigilante justice was understandable or justified by the lack of sufficient police action ... you were saying it filled a void, I don't think that's right" pic.twitter.com/MuWTi4Rio9> > — Lis Power (@LisPower1) August 27, 2020Protests have gone on for days in Kenosha since police shot Jacob Blake on Sunday, with peaceful daytime demonstrations turning violent at night. Fox News' Tucker Carlson is among conservatives defending the alleged killer.More stories from theweek.com McConnell inexplicably claims that Democrats want to tell Americans 'how many hamburgers you can eat' 7 scathingly funny cartoons about the Republican National Convention Biden's latest ad puts Trump's weirdest moments and empty rallies to a Bad Bunny song
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| Right-Wing Goons Hype Kenosha Vigilantes. Locals Tell Them to Get Lost. Posted: 27 Aug 2020 11:57 AM PDT  As Kenosha, Wisconsin, continues to reel from the police shooting of Jacob Blake, residents are increasingly turning their anger to so-called outside agitators who some say invaded the city to sow chaos amongst the protests—and even kill demonstrators."They [outsiders] tore up our neighborhood, this is our neighborhood, this is where we shop at. These are not Kenosha people," Lonnie Stewart, 60, told The Daily Beast. "They're coming to Kenosha, Wisconsin to destroy our city."Immediately after a Kenosha police officer shot 29-year-old Blake in the back several times as he tried to get into a van with his kids on Sunday, the Wisconsin city descended into fiery unrest against police brutality. Buildings burned, and cars were razed as activists decried yet another act of police violence against a person of color.That alone provided new fodder for the "outside agitator" narrative—that rogues from out of town have used protests across America over wanton killings by cops as an excuse to riot or incite violence. Those claims haven't always been baseless, though they are most often used as a premise to crack down on activists. This week, they were also in keeping with the be-very-afraid spirit of the Republican National Convention, which has ignored police violence except to dunk on the unrest that follows it.But after two nights of tense altercations between police in tactical gear and residents and regional activists who defied citywide curfews, hoards of heavily-armed counter-protesters arrived in Kenosha to murderous effect on Tuesday. Police say 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, a Blue Lives Matter fanatic carrying a military-style semi-automatic rifle, killed two people and injured a third after traveling from Illinois to co-mingle with other armed vigilantes looking to protect the city. Prosecutors filed five felony charges against him on Thursday, including first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide—as well as a misdemeanor charge of possession of a deadly weapon.Residents say not all "outside agitators" are created equal—and they want the far-right hordes who have taken to cheering on Rittenhouse as some kind of hero to know that.Here Are the Athletes and Teams Boycotting Games to Protest the Shooting of Jacob Blake"I was terrified when I heard that news and I really had hoped it was just talk and that they wouldn't actually do anything," Angie Aker, a 41-year-old Kenosha native, said of armed groups. "Kenosha is a peaceful place. It still has a small-town feel to it—almost everybody knows everyone or is only like one or two degrees of separation. There isn't usually any of this widespread chaos."Right-wing media have predictably emerged as staunch defenders of the teenager, even justifying his deadly alleged actions as a necessary evil. "Kenosha has devolved into anarchy, the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it," Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Wednesday night. "People in charge, from the governor of Wisconsin on down, refused to enforce the law. They stood back and watched Kenosha burn.""So are we really surprised this looting and arson accelerated to murder?" he continued. "How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would? Everyone can see what was happening in Kenosha. It was getting crazier by the hour."Rittenhouse appeared on multiple videos taken throughout the night as the peaceful demonstration veered toward something more sinister. The Lake County Public Defender's Office, which is listed as representing the teenager, declined to comment. Attorney Lin Wood, who represented Covington Catholic graduate Nick Sandmann, had a team gearing up to provide support to Rittenhouse, his assistant told The Daily Beast. The lawyers have also established a defense fund on the teenager's behalf.In one gut-wrenching video, an armed man matching Rittenhouse's description tripped over on a street before firing at people who seemed to be making an attempt to disarm him. During the exchange, one person was shot in the head and another in the chest around 11:45 p.m. and never got up. Another video appears to show the teenager firing several shots—before getting up and walking toward police vehicles with his hands up in apparent surrender. A third video appears to show him running away and holding his rifle, where he is heard apparently uttering into his phone, "I just killed somebody." While authorities have not yet released any names, family and friends have identified Anthony Huber, 26, of Silver Lake, and Joseph "Jojo" Rosenbaum, 36, of Kenosha as the two who were killed, according to several local media outlets. Friends also say Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, was shot in the arm during the incident and was expected to survive. Grosskreutz was in Kenosha with the social justice reform group the People's Revolution Movement of Milwaukee, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast."I had to watch my friend die on Facebook, I had to watch my city burn down," Marcus Starks, a 35-year-old Kenosha native, and friend of Huber, previously told The Daily Beast. He proceeded to turn his ire to Rittenhouse, the new vigilante prince of the far-right."That boy had no business being here, let alone with open carry," Starks told The Daily Beast, adding, "If you're gonna close this town, close it all the way down."Officer Rusten Sheskey Identified as Cop Who Shot Jacob BlakeIn a separate video seemingly shot at the boarded-up gas station where Rittenhouse appeared in a Daily Caller video, an individual resembling Rittenhouse is seen chatting with police officers and other vigilante guards. Rittenhouse, whose social media accounts are rife with support for pro-police causes and his affinity for guns, also was interviewed by a Daily Caller reporter before the shootings. "So people are getting injured and our job is to protect this business," Rittenhouse replies in the video posted on Twitter after being asked what he's doing at the protest. "And part of my job is to also help people. If there is somebody hurt I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle because I need to protect myself obviously. I also have my med kit."The Kenosha Police Department said Friday nine people were arrested for disorderly conduct on Aug. 26 after officers received a tip about "suspicious" vehicles with out-of-state license plates meeting up in a remote parking lot. Cops followed the vehicles—which included a black school bus, a break truck, and a tan minivan—to a gas station where some people were attempting "to fill multiple fuel cans." The vehicles contained items like helmets, gas masks, protective vests, illegal fireworks, and suspected controlled substances, cops said.A Facebook spokesperson said Thursday that none of Rittenhouse's accounts were reported prior to the shooting. Nor did the company find any evidence that suggested the teenager followed a self-declared militia group, the Kenosha Guard, on the platform—nor was he invited to their event for Tuesday evening, according to Facebook.Still, he seemed to establish himself quickly on the scene. And while outsiders often show up at BLM protests purporting to keep peace, they have also shown a remarkable capacity for—deliberately or otherwise—inciting violence.One of the first prominent instances of property damage tied to George Floyd-era protests, in which a masked man smashed windows in Minneapolis in late May, appears to have been the work of a white supremacist disguised as an anti-fascist, investigators later claimed in an affidavit. Meanwhile, even as initial reports suggested most or all arrests at the Minneapolis-area chaos were from out of state, nearly all of those people were later revealed to be locals. This week, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was one of the first on the far right to fervently defend Rittenhouse, stating on his show Infowars Wednesday that the violence was just an act of self-preservation against what he described as "a community overthrow of the country." "I told you they're going to ratchet this up toward the election and try to make the whole thing racial. But it's not—it's about a globalist takeover," Jones said.Jones was among several right-wing pundits defending Rittenhouse's actions. The Gateway Pundit, a conservative blog, wrote multiple articles based on the extremely graphic videos, seemingly justifying Rittenhouses's actions as self-defense.In a post now taken-down by Twitter, Ann Coulter declared Rittenhouse should be her president. A contributor for Turning Point USA, a right-wing pro-Trump student organization founded by Charlie Kirk, defended the actions as a "justified shooting," while former Major League Baseball player Aubrey Huff tweeted on Thursday that Rittenhouse is a "national treasure."Unrest in Kenosha was also an implicit theme during the third night of the Republican National Convention—even if no one appeared to explicitly embrace Rittenhouse's alleged actions. Vice President Mike Pence condemned "the violence and chaos engulfing cities across this country.""The violence must stop whether in Minneapolis, Portland, or Kenosha too," he added. Even Donald Trump Jr. has inched toward Rittenhouse's defense: The president's son on Thursday liked a tweet from far-right conspiracy-theorist Mike Cernovich about the teenager's "Mostly Peaceful Self Defense Initiative."Aker, the Kenosha native, said even "pockets of libertarians" in the city were defending Rittenhouse. "In their minds, and the way I've seen them talking about it, they're hailing Rittenhouse as a hero," she told The Daily Beast. "I think the armed militia agitators, while they don't represent a lot of Kenosha, showed the world the cooperation that is going on between white racist citizens, the children they're grooming for violence and hate, and law enforcement," she added. "It's been more under the surface until this situation, and this really forced it into plain view. It's probably a good thing that we're talking about it and seeing it for what it is now. That's the only good thing to come out of all this." Officials on Wednesday were already anticipating—if also perhaps inviting—more chaos with a different kind of outsider: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced National Guard troops from Arizona, Michigan, and Alabama, were being deployed to assist local law enforcement as a city-wide curfew remains in place."Our town not finna be the same no more," Elicia Pavlovich, a 29-year-old Kenosha native, told The Daily Beast. "It's never been like this. Never. Seeing this sight, it just hurts me."—With reporting by Grace Del VecchioRead 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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| Second Trump DHS official to turn on president brands him ‘racist’ in new attack ad Posted: 27 Aug 2020 02:34 PM PDT  A second former member of Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security has turned on the president, branding him "racist" and endorsing Joe Biden.Elizabeth Neumann, who served in the department until April of this year, indicated the rise of white supremacy and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic as her reasons for turning on the president.
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| Hurricane Laura was the latest storm to strengthen fast, but is this rapid intensification really becoming more common? Posted: 28 Aug 2020 05:25 AM PDT  Hurricane Laura blew up quickly as it headed for the Louisiana coast, intensifying from a tropical storm to a major hurricane in less than 24 hours. By the time it made it landfall, it was a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mile-per-hour winds.The Atlantic has seen several hurricanes rapidly intensify like this in recent years. In 2018, Hurricane Michael unexpectedly jumped from Category 2 to Category 5 in the span of a day before hitting the Florida Panhandle. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017 also met the definition of rapid intensification: an increase of at least 35 miles per hour in a 24-hour period. Based on preliminary reports from the National Hurricane Center, Laura gained 65 mph in one 24-hour period and, more impressively, added 80 mph from Aug. 25 to Aug. 27.But do all these fast-growing, powerful storms in recent years mean rapid intensification is becoming more common?With information about hurricanes coming through social media and phone apps, that's a question hurricane scientists like myself are hearing a lot. It's useful to consider a few things: the history of U.S. hurricanes, why the Atlantic is currently so active, and the ingredients that allow storms to strengthen so quickly. What makes storms blow up?Just as a pastry chef needs all the ingredients to successfully make a cake, storms like Laura need favorable conditions to be able to form and rapidly intensify. Three key ingredients help a hurricane rapidly intensify: * Warm ocean waters. Hurricanes draw energy from warm surface water, particularly when it's at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. * Ample moisture, or water content in the atmosphere, to maintain clouds. * Low vertical wind shear. This is a measure of how the wind changes speed and direction with height in the atmosphere. High wind shear will disrupt the clouds, making it hard for the storm to stay together.When all of these ingredients are present, vigorous thunderstorms can form and organize, allowing a robust eyewall to develop. Large-scale changes in ocean temperature, like the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, can also have an impact on hurricane activity.Because these ingredients change, the Atlantic hurricane season varies year to year. This year, as the seasonal forecasts created by Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned, the ingredients are favorable for an active season with more major hurricanes. A review of storms from 1981 to 2012 found that 70% of major Atlantic hurricanes – those reaching Category 3 or higher – had gone through rapid intensification. Why don't all storms grow this quickly?Just having the right water temperature and moisture won't ensure that storms will undergo rapid intensification or become major hurricanes. We saw that with Hurricane Marco. It swept through the Gulf of Mexico just ahead of Hurricane Laura but weakened to a tropical storm before landfall.A big difference was the wind shear. The thunderstorms powering Marco's core struggled to stay connected to its circulation as high wind shear in the Gulf of Mexico stripped them away.When then-Tropical Storm Laura passed over Cuba into the Gulf, the high wind shear conditions had receded, leaving nothing but a favorable environment for Laura to develop catastrophic winds and a dangerous storm surge. As with ice skaters who pull their arms in during a spin to rotate faster, the thunderstorms of Laura's eyewall pulled in the atmosphere around the storm, causing the winds to accelerate into a high-end Category 4 storm. While there are additional complexities to this process, a theoretical framework for intensification that I further developed with colleauges highlights how the location of eyewall thunderstorms relative to the storm's maximum winds triggers rapid intensification. This theory has been supported by eyewall observations collected during "hurricane hunter" flights. So, are these events becoming more common?This is a challenging question and an active topic of research. Because rapidly intensifying hurricanes are fairly rare, there isn't enough information yet to say if rapid intensification is happening more often. The hurricane research community has consistent, reliable observations of storm intensity only since the start of the satellite era and routine storm-penetrating "hurricane hunter" flights since the 1970s.We have seen more rapid intensification events in recent years, and some scientists have concluded that the warming climate is likely playing a role. However, we've also had more active hurricane seasons in those years, and more work needs to be done in this area to understand global trends, such as why hurricanes are crossing ocean basins more slowly. To try to answer this puzzle, hurricane researchers are using historical records to help refine mathematical theories and computer simulations of storms to better understand rapid intensification. The new knowledge will continue to improve forecast guidance and lead to a better understanding of how hurricanes will change in an evolving climate system.[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * How to protect communities from natural disasters – what research tells us * Hurricanes can cause enormous damage inland, but emergency plans focus on coastsChris Slocum receives funding from and is employed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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| An ex-Cisco employee pleaded guilty to causing damage to the tech giant's network which shut down over 16,000 Webex Teams accounts Posted: 27 Aug 2020 01:57 PM PDT  An ex-Cisco employee pleaded guilty to breaking into into the tech giant's network and wiped out thousands of Webex Teams accounts.
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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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| US defence chief says China 'destabilising' Pacific Posted: 28 Aug 2020 04:27 AM PDT  US Defense Secretary Mark Esper accused China of "destabilising" the Pacific region Friday on a whistle-stop trip to the tiny island nation of Palau.
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| Family held at gunpoint by cops over a doll settles claim with Phoenix for $475,000 Posted: 26 Aug 2020 05:37 PM PDT  The family had sought $10 million
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| Judge voids 50,000 absentee ballot requests in Iowa county Posted: 28 Aug 2020 06:26 AM PDT  The ruling marks an initial victory for Trump's challenges to absentee voting procedures in three counties in Iowa, which is expected to be a competitive state.
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| Neighbors with hoses target fires as crews urge them to stop Posted: 26 Aug 2020 10:03 PM PDT  With California firefighters strapped for resources, residents have organized to put out flames themselves in a large swath of land burning south of San Francisco, defending their homes despite orders to evacuate and pleas by officials to get out of danger. The former head of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the effort near a cluster of wildfires around the city of Santa Cruz is larger and more organized than he recalls in previous blazes. The group of wildfires near Santa Cruz has burned 125 square miles (324 square kilometers) and destroyed more than 500 buildings.
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| Kentucky man faces $750,000 fine, possible jail time for violating Canada's Quarantine Act Posted: 27 Aug 2020 02:32 PM PDT  A Northern Kentucky man traveled to a Canadian resort and got a visit from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for violating Canada's Quarantine Act.
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| Elon Musk confirmed a Russian national tried to bribe a Tesla employee with $1 million in a bungled ransomware attack Posted: 28 Aug 2020 04:46 AM PDT  The DOJ accused a Russian national of offering $1 million to an employee to install malware. Elon Musk confirmed the employee worked for Tesla.
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| Men accused of helping ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn escape face U.S. extradition hearing Posted: 28 Aug 2020 03:18 AM PDT  A U.S. judge on Friday will hear arguments over whether two Massachusetts men can be extradited to Japan to face charges that they helped former Nissan Motor Co Ltd <7201.T> Chairman Carlos Ghosn flee the country to avoid facing financial charges. U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, have been held without bail since their arrests May after being accused of smuggling Ghosn out of Japan in December in a box on a private jet.
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| Tucker Carlson says teen charged with killing Wisconsin protesters was trying to 'maintain order when no one else would' Posted: 26 Aug 2020 08:00 PM PDT  Fox News host Tucker Carlson has sparked controversy after claiming a teenager charged with killing demonstrators in Wisconsin protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake was trying to "maintain order when no one else would".The television personality made the controversial comments as protests over the police-shooting of Mr Blake continued throughout the week, after video footage of the confrontation between a white officer and Mr Blake, a black man, went viral and drew national media attention.
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| Pence uses death of federal officer to smear protesters Posted: 27 Aug 2020 09:47 AM PDT  During his speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, Vice President Mike Pence implied a federal officer had been killed by protesters when the alleged shooter is a right-wing extremist.
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