| The Lincoln Project's 'Never Trump' ads expertly troll a president who never fails to take the bait Posted: 10 Jul 2020 03:04 PM PDT  The Lincoln Project, which was created by a group of anti-Trump Republican political operatives last December, believes there is a logic to being a metaphorical fly buzzing around the president's head.
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| Execution blocked after victims' family raises virus concerns Posted: 10 Jul 2020 04:53 PM PDT  Daniel Lewis Lee, a former white supremacist who robbed and murdered a family of three, including their 8-year-old daughter, was scheduled to be executed on Monday.
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| Police are welcome at Seattle ice cream shop — but their guns aren’t, owner says Posted: 09 Jul 2020 07:21 PM PDT  "Police officers: Molly Moon's is a gun-free zone," the sign says.
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| Russia's journalists under increasing pressure from the secret services in wake of Putin's shaky referendum victory Posted: 11 Jul 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Russia's intelligence services have 'stepped up' their war on free media, carrying out a series of operations designed to intimidate journalists in the wake of Vladimir Putin's controversial referendum victory last week. In an unprecedented case for post-Soviet Russia, prominent defence reporter Ivan Safronov was seized outside his home on Tuesday morning by secret service agents and arrested on suspicion of treason. Citing the secret nature of the case, the investigators have not published any evidence to back up their claims but the reporter faces 20 years in prison. Last week's overwhelming approval of constitutional amendments allowing Vladimir Putin to stay in office at least until 2036 was hailed by the Kremlin as a "triumph." But results at the polling stations that were monitored by independent observers indicated something resembling a split vote. That was an apparent cue for Russia's FSB secret service to take action.
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| American Airlines flight attendant, 61, dies suddenly while working Posted: 09 Jul 2020 07:11 PM PDT |
| Fourth day of virus protests in Serbia Posted: 10 Jul 2020 03:20 PM PDT  The protests were held as the Balkan nation announced a record daily death toll from COVID-19. Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said earlier Friday the Balkan state recorded 18 fatalities and 386 new cases over 24 hours in what she described as a "dramatic increase". At the same time, Brnabic condemned as "irresponsible" protests held in Belgrade and other cities on Thursday, after demonstrations in the capital on the previous two days had spilled over into violence.
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| New Flynn Notes: ‘FBI Leadership’ Decided Not to Provide Russian Call Transcripts to Flynn in Interview Posted: 10 Jul 2020 03:30 PM PDT  Newly released documents in the Michael Flynn case include a January 2017 DOJ draft memo that states "FBI leadership" decided against showing Flynn transcripts of his calls with the Russian ambassador in the White House interview that led to his guilty plea.The DOJ document, dated January 30, 2017 — along with a batch of handwritten notes from DOJ and FBI officials describing Flynn's White House interview with former FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI agent Joseph Pientka on January 24, 2017 — shed further light on the FBI's spontaneous interview with Flynn, who had just begun his role as national-security adviser for President Trump."FBI advised that based on this interview, they did not believe General Flynn was acting as an age of Russia," the DOJ draft document, which is heavily redacted, states. "FBI also advised that although they recognized the statements were inconsistent with the FISA collection, they believed that Flynn believed what he was telling them. FBI did not confront Flynn with the communications during the interview."The document explains that while the Bureau "prompted Flynn with language used during the call," Flynn was not shown his actual words because of a decision "made by FBI leadership not to confront Flynn with the actual tech cuts."The mentioning of "tech cuts" about the interview's subject matter — Flynn's December 2016 conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak — adds further context to the questions over how Flynn's calls were monitored in the first place. "Tech cuts" are commonly referred to as internal FBI documents that contain and describe FISA intelligence, suggesting that the FBI picked up Flynn's calls through FISA surveillance. DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz has said his office found no evidence of a FISA application on Flynn, raising the possibility that Flynn's calls with Kislyak were picked up through FISA surveillance of the Russians.In texts between Strzok and then-DOJ lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair, Strzok references the cuts that the Bureau had obtained of Flynn's calls, saying that then-FBI Assistant Director Bill Priestap was concerned with "sharing" information on Flynn — dubbed Crossfire Razor, or "CR" for short — with the Obama White House."He, like us, is concerned with over sharing," Strzok texted Page on January 3, 2017, according to a transcript obtained by John Solomon. "Doesn't want Clapper giving CR cuts to WH. All political, just shows our hand and potentially makes enemies."In April, unsealed documents from the Flynn investigation showed that Flynn was investigated in a case predicated by the FBI's "Crossfire Hurricane" probe of the 2016 Trump campaign, but the Bureau moved to close the investigation on January 4, 2017, after an "absence of any derogatory information" about Flynn's Russian contacts. Strzok then intervened to keep the case open, explaining that "7th floor involved" — referencing the floor in Bureau headquarters that houses senior FBI leadership.Transcripts of Flynn's calls with Kislyak were released in May, showing that Flynn never mentioned "sanctions" and asked Russia not to "escalate" after the Obama administration sanctioned the Kremlin for election interference.Flynn released the documents in a Friday court filing after they were handed over to his defense team by the Justice Department this week. Flynn is currently locked in a battle with U.S. District Court judge Emmet Sullivan, who has so far refused to drop Flynn's guilty plea despite the DOJ's move to withdraw its case, citing previously undisclosed exculpatory information."In short, there was no crime for many reasons," Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell wrote of the new information. "These documents were known to exist at the highest levels of the Justice Department and by Special Counsel, yet they were hidden from the defense for three years."On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered Powell and the DOJ to respond within 10 days to Judge Sullivan's Thursday "en banc" petition for Flynn's case to be heard by the full appeals court. A panel for the D.C. Circuit has already ruled that Sullivan must dismiss the case.
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| Trump still struggling to articulate his agenda for a second term Posted: 10 Jul 2020 09:55 AM PDT  The president has been asked three times in the last two weeks to name his top priority items for a second term — and he has struggled to name them.
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| Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue features first transgender model Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:40 PM PDT  This isn't the first time the 23-year-old Brazilian beauty has broken barriers for trans models.
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| Russian accused of harassing Black family in Oregon was ordered deported 10 years ago Posted: 10 Jul 2020 02:07 PM PDT  The man was ordered deported in June 2010.
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| These Arizona teachers shared a classroom for summer school. All 3 contracted COVID-19. 1 died. Posted: 09 Jul 2020 07:31 PM PDT  An Arizona teacher is dead after contracting COVID-19. Two others tested positive after teaching in the same classroom. They hope schools stay closed.
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| New photos show suspects in Lancaster beating, robbery Posted: 09 Jul 2020 06:09 PM PDT  The sheriff's department has released new photos of a man and a possible female accomplice involved in a vicious beating and robbery of an 80-year-old grandfather at a Lancaster grocery store.
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| Pompeo slams UN report on deadly US drone strike on Iranian Posted: 10 Jul 2020 07:41 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has criticized an independent U.N. human rights expert's report insisting a American drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in January was a "watershed" event in the use of drones and amounted to a violation of international law. The report presented by Agnes Callamard to the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council on Thursday chronicled events around the death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and the legal implications of his killing as part of a broader look on the use of drone strikes.
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| Fauci says likely some degree of aerosol transmission of new coronavirus Posted: 10 Jul 2020 08:03 AM PDT  Fauci on Thursday had said it was a "reasonable assumption" that airborne transmission was occurring even though there was not a lot of solid evidence behind it. Fauci said that to battle the global virus, there needed to be multiple vaccine candidates.
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| UN fails to find consensus after Russia, China veto on Syrian aid Posted: 10 Jul 2020 07:46 PM PDT  The UN Security Council failed to find a consensus on prolonging cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria on Friday after Russia and China vetoed an extension and members rejected a counter proposal by Moscow. Without an agreement, authorization for the transport of aid to war-torn Syria, which has existed since 2014, expired Friday night.
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| Author Christopher Buckley: 'Everything Trump touches dies' Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:41 PM PDT  The son of conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr., Christopher Buckley's new novel "Make Russia Great Again" is a rollicking satire of Donald Trump's White House.
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| China Threatens ‘Firm Countermeasures’ after U.S. Sanctions Officials over Uighur Rights Posted: 10 Jul 2020 06:29 AM PDT  China on Friday vowed to retaliate after the U.S. slapped sanctions on senior Chinese officials over alleged human-rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian promised "reciprocal measures" and said the U.S. is the one violating human rights by interfering in China's affairs."In light of these wrong actions, China will impose reciprocal measures on U.S. officials and organizations that have displayed egregious behavior on human rights in relation to Xinjiang affairs," Zhao said.The U.S. on Thursday sanctioned Chen Quanguo, the Communist Party secretary of the autonomous Xinjiang region and a member of the Communist Party's powerful Politburo. Washington also sanctioned three other senior Chinese officials: Zhu Hailun, a former deputy Communist Party secretary of the Xinjiang region, Wang Mingshan, the current director and Communist Party secretary of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, and Huo Liujun, a former Communist Party secretary of the bureau."If the United States insists on acting arrogantly, China will definitely fight back," Zhao said. "We urge the U.S. to correct this wrong decision. If the U.S. continues to proceed, China will take firm countermeasures."The Xinjiang region is home to millions of Uighur Muslims, whose culture Beijing has aimed to suppress in the name of national cohesion.Since 2017, the Chinese government has detained an estimated one million -- if not more -- Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in "re-education camps" around Xinjiang, which are designed to instill a sense of loyalty to the government. Around 80,000 Uighurs have been forced to work in factories, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has estimated.China claims that the detention camps are for voluntary education and training and are used to combat extremism, but Chinese government documents leaked last year detail how the facilities are run with extreme control over their residents.
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| Three LAPD officers face felony charges for falsely labeling people as gang members Posted: 10 Jul 2020 08:59 AM PDT  According to a 59-count criminal complaint, three officers were charged with conspiracy, filing false reports, and prepping fraudulent documents for court.
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| A patient in their 30s has reportedly died from coronavirus after attending a 'COVID party' in Texas Posted: 11 Jul 2020 09:35 AM PDT  According to the hospital's chief medical officer, the patient told their nurse, "I think I made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax, but it's not."
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| Nile Dam row: Egypt and Ethiopia generate heat but no power Posted: 10 Jul 2020 02:02 AM PDT  Egypt sees the dam as an existential threat, while Ethiopia sees it as an existential necessity.
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| Seoul mayor's death prompts sympathy, questions of his acts Posted: 09 Jul 2020 08:05 PM PDT  The sudden death of Seoul's mayor, reportedly implicated in a sexual harassment complaint, has prompted an outpouring of public sympathy even as it has raised questions about a man who built his career as a reform-minded politician and self-described feminist. Park Won-soon was found dead on a wooded hill in northern Seoul early Friday, about seven hours after his daughter reported to police he had left her a "will-like" verbal message and then left their home. Authorities launched a massive search for the 64-year-old Park before rescue dogs found his body.
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| Mexico asks Canada to arrest, extradite ex-investigator Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:30 PM PDT  Mexico is to seek the arrest and extradition from Canada of the former chief investigator in the murky disappearance of 43 students in 2014, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Friday. Tomas Zeron, who was head of the Criminal Investigation Agency, is in Canada and work is underway to extradite him, the minister said. "There is going to be no impunity, part of our function at the ministry of foreign affairs is to guarantee that, when there are cases of this nature, extradition occurs," Ebrard said.
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| Jeff Sessions swings back at Trump for 'juvenile insults' as fight for political future looms in Alabama Posted: 11 Jul 2020 01:35 PM PDT  Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions lashed out Saturday at President Donald Trump after his onetime ally launched another salvo ahead of the Republican Senate primary run-off on Tuesday in Alabama. Sessions, whom Trump has derided as "Mr. Magoo," touted himself as a trusted and independent conservative. "My honor and integrity are far more important than these juvenile insults," Sessions ...
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| In Hong Kong Security Law, China Asserts Legal Jurisdiction over the Entire World Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:48 PM PDT  The Chinese Communist Party's new security law has criminalized any actions it deems to be subversion, secession, terrorism, and collusion with foreign entities in Hong Kong. The law spells an abrupt end to the political freedoms that Hong Kongers used to enjoy. Authorities Friday raided the offices of a research and polling institute associated with the pro-democracy camp just ahead of primaries in which it will choose its candidates for Legislative Council elections, and there's certainly more to come. But there's an additional reason to be wary of the law: It is Beijing's assertion of legal jurisdiction over the entire world.The text of the legislation's Article 38 is blunt, and makes an unprecedented jurisdictional claim: "The Law shall apply to offences under this Law committed against the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from outside the Region by a person who is not a permanent resident of the Region." If the provision is enforced as it is written, Hong Kong authorities could charge and prosecute individuals who have never stepped foot in the city but whom Beijing deems to have violated the law. "If mainland practice to date is any guide—and it is—then the definitions don't matter that much," wrote Donald Clarke, a professor at The George Washington University Law School, in an analysis. "Anything can be stretched as necessary to cover something done by the person being targeted."The CCP could thus use Article 38 to prosecute offenses that are illegal in China but legal in the West. Theoretically, Westerners could be arrested by security agents from Beijing's new base in the city, then rendered to the mainland for trial — for the crime of speaking freely in liberal democracies. Or as Clarke put it, the CCP "is asserting extraterritorial jurisdiction over every person on the planet."This is not just a theoretical concern, either, says Kevin Carrico, a senior research fellow at Melbourne's Monash University. In 2015, Beijing abducted five employees of Causeway Bay Books, a store that sold works on political topics considered sensitive by mainland authorities, in violation of Hong Kong's Basic Law. The kidnappings demonstrate the CCP's desire for extraterritorial law-enforcement authority, says Carrico in an email, and the new law "just gives the false appearance of legality" to its efforts to secure such authority.It's not abnormal for countries to make legal claims that stretch beyond their borders or to punish their own nationals for crimes they commit abroad. But for a country to prosecute a foreigner for acts abroad would require harm to that country under widely accepted interpretations of international law. The other way that countries might claim jurisdiction over foreigners who live abroad is through extradition treaties. Without such treaties, says Terri Marsh, the executive director of the Human Rights Law Foundation, it would be very hard for China to reach non-Chinese citizens living in foreign countries. "China's incursion into our sovereignty is a demonstration of why precisely other nations who are equally sovereign should not comply or cooperate in any way shape, or form," says Marsh.As it happens, some 20 countries have extradition treaties with Hong Kong, including several that have not inked such agreements with the mainland. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group comprising legislators from 13 countries, has in the wake of the new security law's enactment led a drive for countries to cancel these treaties. In recent days, Australia and Canada have suspended theirs, earning Beijing's ire, and the United States could soon follow suit. Others, such as the Netherlands, have warned their citizens against traveling to Hong Kong.Although most countries will not extradite an individual based on political charges, Jerome Cohen, an expert in Chinese law at New York University School of Law, points to Beijing's history of concocting false charges of conventional crimes, such as tax evasion, to target dissidents. Just this week, Xu Zhangrun, a prominent critic of the CCP, was arrested in Beijing on prostitution charges. Fake allegations won't be a problem in countries with robust justice systems, such as France, but Cohen says he's wary of countries that have voted with China on the U.N. Human Rights Council, and even of certain European countries.In addition to the risk of extradition, the high concentration of foreign journalists and businesspeople in Hong Kong would make it "a very convenient target, if China wanted to do something to hold some Americans hostage," says Ho-fung Hung, a professor at Johns Hopkins University. He notes the 2018 detention of two Canadian citizens in retaliation for Ottawa's arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. While hostage diplomacy had already existed as a possibility on the mainland, Americans critical of the Chinese Communist Party have generally been denied visas to visit China, ending up in Hong Kong instead. They used to enjoy immunity from Beijing's reach there, but with the security law, Beijing could well detain and try them for speaking against the CCP in other countries. Carrico offers a dire warning: "In traveling to China and Hong Kong today, one is in effect taking the same type of risks as someone travelling to Pyongyang."The danger is particularly acute for Taiwanese individuals and organizations. Leaders in Taipei have watched the Hong Kong crackdown with apprehension, fearing that the CCP will turn its focus to them next. Carrico notes that Hong Kong, which despite its former autonomy from the mainland did not diverge from Beijing's official position on Taiwan, had until now allowed Taiwanese organizations to operate in the city. But "the [national-security law] means the end of that, and if I was in any way linked to the Taiwanese government and living in Hong Kong right now, I would leave immediately." In fact, the law subjects foreign and Taiwan-based organizations with offices in Hong Kong to onerous regulations requiring cooperation with the city's police commissioner. According to new rules released this week, the city police can even ask staff at "foreign and Taiwan political organizations" in Hong Kong to provide personal and financial information about their organizations.It is important to note that until Hong Kong's rulers release further guidelines on implementation of the law, the precise nature of the danger it poses will remain unclear. Cohen predicts that Article 38 will be interpreted more narrowly than its wording would suggest. "Now even China's regular domestic criminal law doesn't go as far as this new national security law could be interpreted," he says, noting that the mainland's criminal code would not lead to prosecutions of foreigners over political speech legal in their own countries. He thinks that Article 38's expansive wording was the result of a time crunch faced by those responsible for drafting it. But he is careful to emphasize that he's only making a prediction, and that the law is already intimidating some activists into silence. "They are already being deterred, not only in Hong Kong, but around the world," he says.
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| Kellyanne Conway: Biden is plagiarizing Trump’s ‘America First’ plan Posted: 10 Jul 2020 06:14 AM PDT  White House counselor Kellyanne Conway reacts to Joe Biden's economic plan and previews Trump's New Hampshire rally on 'Fox and Friends.'
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| New York's hungry rats torment alfresco diners after lockdown famine Posted: 10 Jul 2020 08:55 AM PDT  * Surge in rat activity as city starts to open outdoor restaurants * 'Last night, a customer had a baby rat running on his shoe'New York City is starting to tentatively emerge from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic but a revival in outdoor restaurant dining is facing a new hazard – a plague of rats.Diners are facing a surge in rat activity following a lockdown period where the rodents were cut off from key food sources as businesses including restaurants and grocery stores shut down, forcing rats to battle for snacks and even eat each other.Since 22 June, New York City restaurants have been allowed to serve people again in outdoor settings, prompting sidewalks and car parking spaces to be dotted with tables and chairs. But the resumption of alfresco dining has led to people having unexpected rodent companions for their meals.Giacomo Romano, who owns Ciccio, an Italian restaurant in Manhattan's Soho, said rats from a nearby park have been harassing diners since the outdoor meals were permitted. "Last night, a customer had a baby rat running on his shoe, and I let you just imagine his reaction," Romano told NBC.Romano and other business owners have called on the city to do more to reduce rat populations, as the city hauls itself out of a pandemic crisis that has claimed more than 20,000 lives. New infections and deaths have dropped sharply since April but New York City has postponed plans to allow indoor dining due to concerns over surging Covid-19 cases in other states, such as Florida, Texas and Arizona.New York City has waged a long and often fruitless war against rats, with the rodents adapting adroitly to the city's haphazard waste collection and disposal practices. Rats are a common sight in streets and in the subway, where the rodents have proven themselves adept at spiriting away slices of pizza.The resumption of dining activity is likely to stir a wave of activity among rats following a period of relative famine, meaning interactions with people are set to continue."Rats are designed to smell molecules of anything that's food-related," Bobby Corrigan, an urban rodentologist, told NBC. "They follow those food molecules like heat-seeking missiles – and eventually you know they end up where those molecules are originating."
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| Justice Dept. seeks to overturn order halting execution Posted: 11 Jul 2020 10:33 AM PDT  The Justice Department filed an emergency motion with a federal appeals court on Saturday seeking to move forward with the first federal execution in nearly two decades. Daniel Lee, 47, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection on Monday at a federal prison in Indiana. The Justice Department is seeking to immediately overturn that ruling.
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| Giant protests in Russia after popular governor's arrest Posted: 11 Jul 2020 06:06 AM PDT  At least 10,000 protesters marched through the eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk Saturday in support of a popular local governor arrested this week for allegedly ordering several murders. A court in Moscow on Friday ruled to hold 50-year-old Sergei Furgal for two months pending trial for the murders of several businessmen 15 years ago. Furgal's nationalist Liberal-Democratic Party has thrown its weight behind the governor, and on Saturday said "35,000 people came out to the streets" in Khabarovsk to protest his arrest.
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| Trump Aides Not Sweating His Supreme Court Taxes Rebuke Posted: 09 Jul 2020 09:42 PM PDT  Moments after the Supreme Court resoundingly rejected President Donald Trump's claims to total immunity from prosecution on Thursday, the president did what he usually does: He began venting his rage on Twitter.Behind the scenes, however, members of his team were far more serene. "It's not something we are worrying about," an adviser to Trump's re-election campaign bluntly told The Daily Beast. That's because, as that adviser and another source working on the president's re-election effort say, they are operating under the belief that the ruling will be a non-issue, at least for now. There is widespread expectation that any resulting revelations about the president's finances will occur after the 2020 election, nullifying any immediate political damage from the court.Everything Donald Trump Stands For Just Got Slapped Down by the Supreme CourtThat sense of relief marked a coda on a dramatic and constitutionally consequential Friday morning, in which the court issued a pair of 7-2 decisions, ruling that the president's blanket claims of immunity from legal investigation—both by Congress and law enforcement authorities in New York—lacked legal merit. In broad strokes, the decisions were setbacks for Trump, which may explain why he tweeted, shortly after they were handed down, that it was "Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!" But the court also remanded both cases to lower courts to consider specific objections to the proceedings, ones that don't simply claim the president is above the law by virtue of his office, giving the president's re-election team what it wanted: time. Though congressional Democrats and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance may gain access to Trump's tax returns and other financial records, that information is not likely to emerge before voters go to the polls in November. If that was any comfort for Trump, his immediate, barely comprehensible Twitter outburst didn't show it. But congressional Democrats were not entirely pleased either. The decision dealt a blow of sorts to congressional oversight powers, rejecting the broad scope of House Democrats' requests for financial information from the president, and putting in place new standards for subpoenas to have to meet. For legal conservatives, it was a satisfactory outcome—finding a middle ground between demands for congressional and law enforcement oversight powers and separation of powers claims by the president."I think they struck a pretty good balance," said Devin Watkins, a member of the Federalism and Separation of Powers Executive Committee at the conservative Federalist Society, in a Thursday conference call with reporters on the two cases, Trump v. Mazars and Trump v. Vance. "They didn't rubber stamp the subpoenas of the House of Representatives, but nor did they rubber stamp the opinions of President Trump's personal attorney," Watkins said of the former.Supremes: NY Can Get Trump's Tax Returns, but Not House DemsThe balance of the two decisions was evident in a concurring opinion offered by Trump's two Supreme Court nominees—Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh—who sided with the court's more progressive members on the overarching question of presidential immunity. But the two men explicitly carved out the president's right to raise other constitutional objections to the breadth and scope of congressional requests for information.When asked by reporters to weigh in at a press briefing on Thursday, Trump's White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed that the president was "gratified" by the day's decision. She also, however, argued that recent rulings demonstrated the imperative of re-electing Trump and placing more conservatives on the Court.Jenna Ellis, an attorney to Trump and his re-election campaign, said in a statement to The Daily Beast on Thursday morning, that the rulings amounted to "a delayed victory for President Trump," even though they clearly discounted his broad claims of legal immunity. "Democrats have continued to harass President Trump through the Russia Witch Hunt, the Impeachment Hoax, and other lies and manipulations, and Democrats will continue to lose," said Ellis. "All Americans, including the President of the United States, have a right to be free from politically-motivated harassment."Thursday's decision follows weeks of Trump griping that the Supreme Court, to which he has already appointed two justices with strong conservative track records, is not nearly friendly enough. For years, he has viewed it as the job, at least in part, of the justices and judges he nominates to "be loyal" and protective of him, on both personal and policy matters, according to three people who've spoken to the president about this.In the past few weeks, the president's frustrations over the court's ideological makeup have flared up again—fueled by multiple recent decisions, including on immigration—that have left him feeling that the highest court in the land had not yet been remade sufficiently in his vision. He repeatedly told close advisers in the past month that one way he thinks he can secure re-election is by hyper-motivating his base voters, particularly evangelicals, by messaging that the Supreme Court is still "too liberal" and that failing to re-elect Trump could risk undoing all the judicial progress they've made since 2017, two sources familiar with the president's conversations say.The president, naturally, was monitoring Thursday's decision closely, with the case and its potential fallout adding to the cluster of re-election-year woes that has already included a global pandemic, a crashed U.S. economy, and widespread unrest and protest. Even though the president and his team have a chance to run out the clock between now and after the November election, the ruling still stung to MAGA stalwarts. To some Trump allies, the court's decision was yet another betrayal from people who owed their new jobs and elevation to the 45th president of the United States. To others, it was a disappointment in diminished returns. "[Kavanaugh and Gorsuch] missed the point," Tom Fitton, who leads the conservative group Judicial Watch and remains a favorite of Trump's on Twitter and on Fox programs, said on Thursday morning. He added that this is really "about presidential harassment, which is an assault on our constitutional structure of government."Fitton added that "the battle will continue." Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Filippinos starve as President Duterte vows not to ease the world's longest lockdown Posted: 11 Jul 2020 04:05 AM PDT  Jeepney buses, with their cheerfully gaudy exteriors and packed-in seats, are a national symbol of the Philippines, a form of public transport known affectionately as 'kings of the road'. But almost all of them have been forced off the roads by possibly the world's longest and strictest coronavirus lockdown. The situation has left many of the drivers destitute and desperate, with fellow citizens stepping in to raise money for them via Facebook groups. Jowel Palaña, 41, a jeepney driver in Manila, told the Telegraph: "Every single day has been a struggle." He has not been able to work as a driver since March 15, when the lockdown began. Instead, he swept the streets in exchange for food from his local district leaders. He was unable to travel to see his wife, three children and their extended family outside the city - or send them any money to survive - for months.
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| A revival of ultrafast supersonic passenger jet travel is inching closer to reality – take a look at the prototype debuting in October Posted: 11 Jul 2020 05:18 AM PDT  Boom Supersonic's XB-1 will take to the skies in 2021 to clear a path for the Overture, a supersonic jet that will continue the legacy left by the Concorde.
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| Nasa Mars rover Perseverance is attached to rocket Posted: 10 Jul 2020 03:41 AM PDT  The US space agency's next rover is placed atop of the rocket that will send it to the Red Planet.
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| Reparations for Black people in this North Carolina city could be coming. Here’s how Posted: 10 Jul 2020 04:23 PM PDT  The city council will vote on a resolution supporting reparations for the Black community next week.
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| More than 1 in 3 Americans say they know someone who has been sick from coronavirus, survey shows Posted: 10 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  The number of Americans who have said that a member of their immediate family has been sick with coronavirus has also more than doubled since March.
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| Ghislaine Maxwell seeks bail, citing coronavirus, and denies Jeffrey Epstein charges Posted: 10 Jul 2020 10:06 AM PDT  Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of late financier Jeffrey Epstein, on Friday forcefully denied charges she lured underage girls for him to sexually abuse and said she deserves bail, citing the risk she might contract the coronavirus in jail. Maxwell, 58, filed her request in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, eight days after being arrested in New Hampshire, where authorities said she had been hiding at a sprawling property she bought while shielding her identity. A spokesman for Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan declined to comment.
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| Utah Governor Declares State of Emergency Due to ‘Civil Unrest’ Posted: 10 Jul 2020 07:29 AM PDT  Utah governor Gary Herbert declared a state of emergency in Salt Lake City late Thursday, citing clashes between police and protesters who flooded the streets after the city district attorney announced that the May police killing of Bernardo Palacios Carbajal was justified. "In the case of the Salt Lake City Officer Involved Critical Incident that resulted in the death of Bernardo Palacios Carbajal, District Attorney Sim Gill's findings provide significant evidence of the justifiable actions of Salt Lake City police officers," Mayor Erin Mendenhall said in a statement. "This evidence shows that our officers acted according to their training and the state law regarding use of lethal force."Protesters broke windows to the district attorney's office, leading police to deem the demonstration an unlawful gathering, the Salt Lake City Police Department said. Demonstrators then disrupted traffic in the city's downtown area and allegedly used pepper spray on officers. One officer was taken to a nearby hospital. Police arrested two protesters, the department said. The state of emergency order, which closes the Utah State Capitol grounds to the public, will stay in effect until at least July 14. Herbert also offered Utah's Department of Public Safety to Salt Lake City.In May police fired 34 shots at Palacios, leaving him with more than a dozen wounds, after a report of someone making "threats with a weapon," CNN reported. "I know that for some, today's decision does not feel like justice," Mendenhall said. "It has become increasingly apparent in our city and across the nation that there is a difference between what so many feel is morally correct, and what is considered appropriate and justified under the law."
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| Coronavirus Whistleblower: Exclusive Fox News Interview Posted: 10 Jul 2020 05:57 AM PDT  Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a virologist from Hong Kong, tells Fox News in an exclusive interview about the early research she says she conducted into COVID-19, and why she believes that research was withheld from the world.
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| Michel Barnier tells Mark Francois that Brexit is pointless Posted: 09 Jul 2020 10:48 PM PDT  Michel Barnier has written to Mark Francois and told the Chair of the Eurosceptic European Research Group of Tory MPs that Brexit isn't worth it. Mr Francois had sent the EU's chief negotiator an open letter, which he titled a "missive from a free country", on June 29. "While nobody has been able to demonstrate to me the added value of leaving the most integrated economic and free trade area in the world, I have always respected the UK's decision to withdraw from the EU," Mr Barnier said in reply. "In this same spirit we approach the ongoing negotiations with your great - and indeed free - country." Mr Barnier warned Mr Francois that the EU would hold Boris Johnson to the joint Political Declaration and that Brussels was adamant that the European Court of Justice must have the final say on the interpretation of EU law. The Political Declaration, which is a non-binding document setting out the broad outline of the free trade agreement, was "agreed by your prime minister and voted for by the House of Commons,including yourself," Mr Barnier added. He said the level playing field guarantees the EU demands were necessary. Mr Barnier said that the EU would not agree a free trade deal without an agreement on fishing and described progress in negotiations as "disappointing". "We will continue to work with determination to conclude the negotiations with success as we continue to believe that this can be done despite the short time available, which is the choice of your government." Mr Barnier said, referring to the UK's refusal to extend the transition period. The French politician and commission official told Mr Francois it was a "pleasure" to hear from UK elected representatives. "Having been an elected representative for many years myself I value the crucial role you play in scrutinising and holding your government to account," he said In response, Mr Francois told the Telegraph that he was grateful for the "charming billet doux". He said, "As he rightly acknowledged, we are now a free country - and indeed very happy to be so." He added that the political declaration was "indicative and not legally binding - as Michel knows well. Nevertheless, I'm delighted that further talks are now agreed. As he often reminds us, 'the clock is ticking.'" UK and EU officials met in London this week and will meet again in Brussels next week as the try to break the deadlock in the trade negotiations. "This week's discussions confirm that significant divergences remain between the EU and GB. We will continue working with patience, respect and determination," Mr Barnier tweeted on Thursday.
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| Can schools force students to wear masks? Illinois lawsuit challenges COVID-19 policy Posted: 10 Jul 2020 12:36 PM PDT  The lawsuit says a school's mask requirement will cause a mother and child to "suffer irreparable damage."
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