| Veteran GOP strategist predicts Trump's debate performance will suffer thanks to tax bombshell Posted: 29 Sep 2020 02:23 PM PDT  GOP political consultant Mike Murphy predicts President Trump will be distracted at tonight's debate as a result of reports on his taxes.
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| CDC study on COVID-19 in kids bolsters case for elementary school reopening Posted: 28 Sep 2020 11:26 AM PDT  The study adds nuance to prior findings that the risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, increases with age.
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| Portland police seize shields, arrest 24 before march; one officer hospitalized Posted: 29 Sep 2020 09:29 AM PDT  At least 24 people were arrested when police broke up a planned march, then declared an unlawful assembly when protesters reorganized.
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| Oregon hostage situation leaves ‘multiple people' dead Posted: 29 Sep 2020 12:16 AM PDT  Officers responded to an address in Salem at around 12:30 pm on Monday
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| ‘Defund the police’ message on Starbucks cups gets barista fired in Texas Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Starbucks called the incident "unacceptable."
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| A 3-Michelin star restaurant in Napa has burned down in California's latest wildfire Posted: 29 Sep 2020 02:06 PM PDT  The Restaurant at Meadowood was engulfed by Napa Valley's Glass Fire on Monday morning and couldn't be saved.
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| Singapore Airlines drops 'flights to nowhere' after outcry Posted: 29 Sep 2020 02:36 AM PDT  Singapore Airlines said Tuesday it had scrapped plans for "flights to nowhere" aimed at boosting its coronavirus-hit finances after an outcry over the environmental impact.
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| Body camera footage shows Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale being tackled by police outside his Florida home Posted: 28 Sep 2020 01:30 PM PDT  Candice Parscale called 911 on Sunday, saying her husband had loaded a firearm and threatened to hurt himself, according to a police report.
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| 'He has dementia': Rudy Guiliani makes unfounded claims about Biden during rambling Fox News interview Posted: 29 Sep 2020 06:41 AM PDT  The president's lawyer left Fox News hosts looking uncomfortable as he ramped up his fake conspiracies against Joe Biden
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| 'False alarm': Cruise crew who tested positive for COVID-19 in Greece got 3 more tests, all negative Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:06 AM PDT  The Mein Schiff 6, operated by TUI Cruises, began its trip in Heraklion on the southern Greek island of Crete on Sunday night.
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| Auschwitz director offers to serve time in place of 13-year-old Nigerian sentenced to 10 years for blasphemy Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:58 AM PDT  The director of the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland has offered to serve time for a Nigerian child who was convicted of blasphemy and ordered to spend ten years in prison by a Sharia court . In an open letter, Piotr Cywinski asked Nigeria's President to intervene and pardon 13-year-old Omar Farouq for the conviction. "As the director of the Auschwitz memorial, which commemorates the victims and preserves the remains of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camps, where children were imprisoned and murdered, I cannot remain indifferent to this disgraceful sentence for humanity," he wrote. Omar Farouq was arrested earlier this year by religious police in Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city, after he had a 'blasphemous' conversation with an older man. His conviction by a religious court has provoked condemnation by the United Nations and global human rights groups. Mr Cywinski told The Telegraph that he felt he had to act when he heard about Omar. "When I heard about this story last week, I remembered that [Nigeria's] President Buhari visited Auschwitz in 2018. So I thought that maybe a voice coming from this difficult place would have some effect on him... I have kids that age. "There are some times we have to stop our own silence and try to do something. It's not enough to just like something on Facebook or retweet it." Mr Cywinski added that since he sent the letter last week, no one from the government had responded yet. Kola Alapinni, Omar's lawyer, told The Telegraph that the adolescent has been held in a prison for adults and not been allowed to see any legal representation. If Omar had been older, Mr Alapinni says, he would have been sentenced to death. At a federal level, Nigeria is a secular state. But 12 of the country's northern Muslim-dominated states have a Sharia system running in parallel to the secular courts. These courts can only try Muslims and regularly serve out medieval-style punishments. Mr Alapinni, a graduate of the University of Essex and a secularist campaigner, says he will keep fighting Omar's corner. "Section 10 of the constitution says Nigeria is a secular state. We are not Iran; we are no Saudi Arabia; we are not the Vatican. We are a multi-religious state with freedom of thought, expression and religion enshrined in the constitution," he says. "This should not be happening."
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| Massacre in Mexican bar leaves 11 people dead Posted: 28 Sep 2020 05:55 AM PDT 
A massacre in a Mexican bar left 11 people dead on Sunday (September 27). The attorney general's office in the central state of Guanajuato said the bodies of seven men and four women were found at the scene in the city of Jaral del Progreso in the early hours. Authorities added that another woman was also found with gunshot injuries. It comes as the country grapples with a record homicide rate - despite the government's promises to tackle gang violence. Guanajuato, a major car-making hub, has become a recurring scene of criminal violence in Mexico, ravaged by a turf war between the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel. In July, gunmen killed 24 people at a drug rehabilitation center in Guanajuato. It was one of the worst mass slayings since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office - pledging to reduce record levels of violence.
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| COVID-19 cases rising among US children as schools reopen Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:40 AM PDT  After preying heavily on the elderly in the spring, the coronavirus is increasingly infecting American children and teens in a trend authorities say appears fueled by school reopenings and the resumption of sports, playdates and other activities. Children of all ages now make up 10% of all U.S cases, up from 2% in April, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported Tuesday. About two times more teens were infected than younger children, the CDC report said.
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| Lost wallet used as bait to lure alleged meth dealer into an arrest, Florida cops say Posted: 28 Sep 2020 04:05 PM PDT  The suspect showed up to the meeting spot with methamphetamine and $3,000 on his person.
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| Man dies after falling 100 feet from Oregon cliff while posing for photo in tree Posted: 29 Sep 2020 12:07 PM PDT  Branch brake caused 43-year-old to plummet into ocean
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| Mueller issues a rare public statement disputing his former right-hand man's claim that he didn't pursue Trump hard enough Posted: 29 Sep 2020 12:01 PM PDT  "When important decisions had to be made, I made them," former special counsel Robert Mueller said about his investigation.
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| Fox News host floats bonkers conspiracy theory that Joe Biden will use listening devices at debate Posted: 29 Sep 2020 08:41 AM PDT  "The Trump team asked to inspect the ears of each debater for electronic devices or transmitters," Bill Hemmer says
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| Brake failure, 'egregious disregard for safety' caused NY limo crash that killed 20 people, NTSB says Posted: 29 Sep 2020 02:12 PM PDT  Two years after the country's worst road transportation disaster since 2005, the NTSB finalized its report on the cause of the Schoharie, New York, crash.
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| Alicia Silverstone defends her 9-year-old son’s long hair Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:21 PM PDT  "We would never impose any social ideas about what hair on a boy or girl should look like," the actor wrote.
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| Germany walks away from Lockheed, Boeing cargo helicopter offers Posted: 29 Sep 2020 09:09 AM PDT  The surprise decision halts an acquisition race that was scheduled to a see a contract awarded in 2021.
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| Mom’s sudden death left children fending for themselves for five days, Texas cops say Posted: 29 Sep 2020 05:46 AM PDT  School officials asked for a welfare check at the home when the 5- and 7-year-old brothers didn't show up all week.
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| Trump's spy chief just released 'Russian disinformation' against Hillary Clinton that he acknowledged may be fabricated Posted: 29 Sep 2020 03:09 PM PDT  DNI John Ratcliffe said in a letter that the US intel community "does not know the accuracy" of the allegation or whether it's been fabricated.
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| South Carolina city apologizes to Black residents for racial injustice resulting from its policies Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:49 AM PDT  The Spartanburg city council unanimously approved a resolution that acknowledges systematic racism.
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| Philippines extends partial coronavirus curbs in Manila until Oct 31 Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:01 AM PDT  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday partial coronavirus restrictions in and around the capital region will be extended for another month until Oct. 31 to keep the spread of COVID-19 in check. The Philippines reported 3,073 new COVID-19 cases and 37 fatalities that day, taking its total count to 307,288 cases - the highest in Southeast Asia - with 5,381 deaths. Members of the government's coronavirus task force said they could not afford to be complacent even as they would like the economy to continue to move forward.
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| Amnesty International to halt India operations Posted: 29 Sep 2020 07:48 AM PDT  The human rights watchdog tells the BBC that the move comes due to reprisal from the government.
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| Justice Ginsburg buried at Arlington in private ceremony Posted: 29 Sep 2020 12:56 PM PDT  Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was buried Tuesday in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, laid to rest beside her husband and near some of her former colleagues on the court. Washington last week honored the 87-year-old Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18, with two days where the public could view her casket at the top of the Supreme Court's steps and pay their respects. On Friday, the women's rights trailblazer and second woman to join the high court lay in state at the U.S. Capitol, the first woman to do so.
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| Video shows alleged ballot harvesting in Ilhan Omar's district Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:47 PM PDT  Minneapolis police announce investigation; Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe joins 'Hannity' to discuss
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| They Protested at a Police Station. They’re Charged With Trying to Kidnap Cops. Posted: 29 Sep 2020 01:36 AM PDT  The July 3 protest in Aurora, Colorado, seemed, at least on the surface, like just another of the hundreds of racial justice protests that have swept the nation this year. Demonstrators sat outside a police station chanting and playing music. Although they said they wouldn't leave until their demands were met, the protesters were cleared out by police around 4:30 a.m.Colorado Protest Erupts in Panic as Car Drives Into Crowd, Shots Fired But several of the protest leaders are facing felony attempted kidnapping charges for allegedly imprisoning police officers in their own precinct during the protest—charges their fellow activists are calling absurd.Lillian House, Joel Northam, and Whitney "Eliza" Lucero are among a group of Denver-area activists facing a slate of charges related to their protest activities this summer. Local prosecutors say the activists tried to kidnap police by holding a short-lived "occupation"-style protest outside the precinct and blocking its doors. But activists allege a crackdown on the most visible members of their movement, leading to terrifying SWAT arrests and the threat of years in prison."This characterization that someone quote-unquote kidnapped officers is absolutely ridiculous," Ryan Hamby, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Marxist group with which House, Northam, and Lucero are affiliated, told The Daily Beast."It would be laughable if it wasn't so serious," he added.The July 3 protest was one of many that called for the termination of officers involved in the killing of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who died in Aurora Police custody last year. McClain was not accused of any crime but became the subject of police suspicion while walking home from the convenience store when someone called 911 to report him "look[ing] sketchy." Police placed McClain in a now-banned chokehold, causing him to vomit and lose consciousness. Paramedics later injected him with the sedative ketamine.An autopsy did not conclusively identify a single cause of death, and two of the three arresting officers have not been fired. The third arresting officer was fired for responding "ha ha" to pictures of other officers re-enacting and mocking McClain's death. (That officer is suing the city over his termination.)The firings of the police who re-enacted McClain's death were announced July 3, the same day as the protest outside the police precinct where demonstrators believed the remaining officers worked. Media reports—and even police tweets from most of the night—characterize the demonstration as peaceful, with some 600 protesters sitting around. Police ordered protesters to disperse at 2:30 a.m., tweeted a half-hour later that protesters were throwing things, and had cleared out the site by 4:30, the Denver Post reported at the time.But a statement from the Adams County district attorney this month accused protesters of holding cops hostage. Protesters "prevented 18 officers inside from leaving the building by barricading entrances and securing doors with wires, ropes, boards, picnic tables and sandbags," the statement read. (The district attorney was unavailable for comment. In a call with Denver's 9News, defendant Lillian House said she was unaware of the alleged barricade.)Those allegations come alongside serious criminal charges for six protest leaders, including three who are accused of attempted kidnapping, inciting a riot, and inciting a riot by giving commands, all of which are felonies.The protesters and prosecutors both point to a mid-protest phone call between activist Lillian House and Aurora's interim police chief Vanessa Wilson, which House broadcast to protesters over a microphone. House called on Wilson to fire the remaining officers involved in McClain's death; Wilson said she didn't have the authority to do that but thanked the protesters for not trying to enter the precinct."I appreciate that you haven't breached the building and I hope that you continue to keep that promise," Wilson said.Activists like Hamby have pointed to the call as evidence that protesters stayed within their rights."Like, why would you even say that?" Hamby said of Wilson's call. "She's basically admitting on the phone that we have not done any of the things that they're now claiming we did in this affidavit."On the phone call, House, who is also accused of a felony count of attempting to influence a public servant, affirmed that the protesters wouldn't enter the building. But they wouldn't leave, either, until the two remaining officers in McClain's killing were fired."I just want to make it perfectly crystal clear that everyone here has agreed that we are going to sit here," she said. "We're not going anywhere. We're not going in, we're not going out, we're sure not going out, and neither are these pigs that are inside the building. So we're not doing anything wrong. We're standing here." (The protesters did, in fact, reportedly leave before sunrise, when police advanced on them.)House's statements appear to be part of the basis for the prosecution's claims that the protest was actually a kidnapping attempt. What followed, fellow activists allege, was a heavy-handed roundup of the protest's most visible faces.Hamby, who organizes with House, Northam, and Lucero, claimed the busts were an attempt to "strike fear into organizers, strike fear into the movement."House and Lucero were arrested by multiple squad cars—House while driving and Lucero while in her apartment—and detained in jail for eight days, Hamby said. Fellow organizers have accused corrections officers of verbally abusing the two women and failing to provide adequate COVID-19 protections. Another protester, John "Russel" Ruch, was followed from his home in unmarked cars and scooped up in a Home Depot parking lot around dawn by officers who gave him "no information" about the cause for his arrest, Hamby claimed.In the most aggressive instance, multiple organizers claimed a SWAT team showed up to arrest protester Joel Northam, allegedly banging on the door and refusing to slide a warrant underneath. Aurora Police did not return a request for comment."He was on the phone with a lawyer the entire time, and the lawyer ended up telling him, 'You need to comply with what they're saying,'" Hamby said. "Because at that point we were worried that they were going to bust down the door and kill him."If convicted on all counts, the activists accused of attempted kidnapping could face decades in prison. The charges come as other activists associated with Black Lives Matter protests face heavy-handed charges, including a Utah protester who faced life in prison for allegedly purchasing paint that was used in a demonstration (the most aggressive charging enhancements in that case have since been dropped).Hamby said protesters planned on further mobilizing around a call to drop the charges. "If anything, the fight-back will be strengthened and emboldened," he said.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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| Dr. Birx reportedly played a central role in pressuring CDC to advise for school reopening despite surges in coronavirus cases this summer Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:18 PM PDT  The New York Times reported Birx asked the CDC to include a document in school reopening guidance that downplayed the risk of infection.
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| Catholic voters can't ignore abortion or Kamala Harris' religious bigotry in 2020 election Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:28 AM PDT  As Pope Francis has said, 'The right to life is the first among human rights.' So why make American Catholics feel like they shouldn't vote for life?
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| U.S. renews pressure on Europe to ditch Huawei in new networks Posted: 29 Sep 2020 07:48 AM PDT  Telecoms company Huawei Technologies is part of China's surveillance state, complicit in human rights abuses, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday, as Washington renewed pressure on Europe to ban the company from fifth-generation (5G) networks. Keith Krach, the undersecretary of state for economic affairs, stepped up warnings as Germany and Italy consider their next-generation mobile networks, in his first tour of European capitals since the COVID-19 pandemic hindered travel in March. Huawei [HWT.UL] is "an arm of the CCP surveillance state and a tool for human rights abuse," Krach told a German Marshall Fund think-tank event, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
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| Court upholds Wisconsin ballot extension, hands Dems a win Posted: 29 Sep 2020 04:04 PM PDT |
| Dr. Rebecca Grant says 'America First' Trump agenda grounded in domestic economic prosperity Posted: 28 Sep 2020 02:43 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo believes Trump administration foreign policy has made the world safer. Analysis from international relations expert Dr. Rebecca Grant.
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| ICE reverses COVID-19 measure, says it will resume arresting non-criminal migrants Posted: 29 Sep 2020 12:46 PM PDT  U.S. immigration officials quietly announced they would resume regular apprehension and detention practices, an apparent reversal from an earlier temporary suspension of non-criminal enforcement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| Georgia officer loses job after calling suicidal inmate a ‘crazy N-word’ Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:43 AM PDT  A Georgia police officer is being fired after going on a racist rant against an inmate on suicide watch. Gregory Hubert Brown was placed on administrative leave without pay after he called a suicidal inmate at the Clayton County Jail a "crazy N-word," Sheriff Victor Hill said in a statement over the weekend.
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| Shepard Smith: Fox News’ Chris Wallace Won’t Tolerate Lies at Presidential Debate Posted: 29 Sep 2020 12:34 AM PDT  Shepard Smith's new CNBC show is called simply The News. And with that in mind, the former Fox News anchor is trying his best to play everything right down the middle.Ahead of his premiere this Wednesday, Smith appeared on his new network colleague Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, where he offered up a series of non-committal, both-sides takes on the biggest news events of the week.Smith got in one joke about Donald Trump writing off $70,000 in hairstyling expenses but otherwise said he didn't expect the bombshell report on the president's tax returns to change any voters' minds. He similarly had little to say about the coming Supreme Court fight, telling Fallon, "Whether it'll affect the election or not, it probably will, you just don't know which way it's going to play.""Will conservatives be so happy about it that they come out and vote for more?" he asked. "Or will Democrats and people on the left say we can't let this happen again and come out and vote in bigger numbers? I don't think we'll know until we know."The anchor said definitively that there is no evidence of widespread fraud in vote-by-mail, but couldn't bring himself to criticize Trump for refusing to agree to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose, only saying, "I'm not exactly sure what it is he is trying to accomplish."Smith's strongest convictions seemed to come when Fallon asked about Tuesday's night debate, which will be moderated by his former Fox colleague Chris Wallace. Stephen Colbert Unloads on 'Fake Billionaire' Trump for Massive Tax Grift"I expect Chris Wallace to be prepared," Smith said. "Nobody who has watched Chris Wallace thinks [anything] other than that he is a very tough, very thoroughly prepared journalist. And he has said repeatedly over the years, to me and publicly, 'My job is to stay out of the way and be unnoticed as much as possible.'""But he's not one to let a falsehood or a misrepresentation or a 'look over here' kind of shiny object thing just slide by the way," he continued. "He will hold them [accountable]. Both of them. He's not a partisan guy. He's searching for truth. He's trying to speak truth to power. And trying to get information to the public. That's what all journalists want to do."It's the same thing Smith is trying to do at CNBC after spending 23 long years at Fox News. "We're not going to have pundits, we're not going to have opinion," he said. "We'll bring you facts. The facts, the truth, the news."Ex-Fox News Anchor Shepard Smith Vows to Fight Disinformation With New CNBC Show"Sometimes people live in a world of just lies," he added. "And when that's happening and it rises to the public discourse, we'll point it out." Drawing an implicit contrast with Fox, Smith said, "We want to be a source of truth and honesty and we'll hold truth to power because that is our job.""The Founding Fathers didn't only put journalism in the Constitution for no reason," he said. "They put it there because it is important and journalists have a responsibility to get it right and tell it straight and that's what we're going to do."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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| A 2nd woman has reportedly accused Nikola Motors founder Trevor Milton of sexual assault Posted: 28 Sep 2020 11:08 PM PDT  Two women have filed police reports against Milton, both accusing him of sexually abusing them when they were 15, CNBC reported.
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| Breonna Taylor: Officer who may have fired fatal shot looking to retire after receiving 'countless threats' Posted: 28 Sep 2020 05:20 PM PDT  A Kentucky police officer who may have fired the shot that killed Breonna Taylor is seeking to retire after receiving "countless threats", his family has said. According to an online fundraising drive apparently organised by the family of Myles Cosgrove, it is no longer safe for the Louisville officer to remain in his job. It said his relatives were trying to raise enough money for him to stand down from the force, and take care of his family.
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| Iranian dissident caught between rock and hard place in Cyprus limbo Posted: 28 Sep 2020 02:20 AM PDT  An Iranian dissident who fled his country fearing arrest has fallen foul of politics and COVID-19 restrictions in ethnically split Cyprus. Since mid-September, Omid Tootian has been living in a small tent in Cyprus's buffer zone, a United Nations-controlled slice of territory carved out after a war split Cyprus in 1974. A musician critical of Teheran, Tootian left Iran for Turkey four years ago.
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