- U.S.Yahoo News
BLM organizer knocks off veteran Democrat in House primary
Black Lives Matter organizer Cori Bush defeated Rep. Lacy Clay in Missouri's Democratic primary Tuesday night, halting a St. Louis political dynasty. Jason Rosenbaum, a political correspondent for St. Louis Public Radio, called Bush's victory “one of the most significant moments in the history of St. Louis politics. It is enormous.
- U.S.Yahoo News
Gun sales spike among African-Americans: 'Our ancestors died for us to vote, they also died for us to be able to carry guns'
During the first six months of 2020, amid a global coronavirus pandemic, gun retailers have reported a record 10.3 million firearm transactions, according to a new survey by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Overall, gun sales in the U.S. have increased by 95 percent while ammunition sales have increased 139 percent compared to the same period last year. “The highest overall firearm sales increase comes from Black men and women, who show a 58.2% increase in purchases during the first six months of 2020 versus the same period last year,” Jim Curcuruto, NSSF director of research and market development, wrote in his report.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
Bodies Strewn on the Ground After Apocalyptic Blast in Beirut
A huge explosion rocked Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday destroying entire blocks of high-rise buildings and leaving at least 73 people confirmed dead, more than 3,700 wounded, and scores more feared buried under rubble and ash. The country's interior minister said early indications were that highly explosive materials, seized and stored at Beirut's port, had detonated. Footage of the blast showed a large plume of dark red flames and smoke before a massive explosion threw up a mushroom cloud.
- U.S.Business Insider
An impassioned obituary for a 79-year-old coronavirus victim blames Trump for his death, then calls out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and people who refused to wear masks
Screenshot Facebook The widow of a coronavirus patient in Texas is blaming President Donald Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and anti-maskers for her husband's death. Stacey Nagy published an impassioned obituary which ran in the Jefferson Jimplecute, according to a note that Nagy wrote on Twitter. "The blame for his death and the deaths of all the other innocent people, falls on Trump, Abbott and all the other politicians who did not take this pandemic seriously and were more concerned with their popularity and votes than lives," Nagy wrote.
- SportsArchitectural Digest
Direct-to-Consumer Furniture Brand Burrow Expands Its Offerings
The company is welcoming benches and credenzas to its product line starting today Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- U.S.Associated Press
Minneapolis mayor: City seeks right mentors for new officers
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the city is working to pair new police officers with “the right individuals” for field training following George Floyd's death, in which a senior officer rejected a younger colleague's question about how Floyd was being restrained. In an interview with The Associated Press as part of its AP Newsmakers series, Frey said the city wants to make sure that the training new officers get isn't undermined once they go into the field. We need to make sure that those who are in a supervisory role, those that are riding with new officers with new cadets, are the right individuals to be role models,” Frey said.
- U.S.INSIDER
Illinois officials call to abolish history classes in the state until an 'alternative' is set up to highlight underrepresented groups
Tim Boyle/Getty Images Community leaders in Illinois called for history classes in state schools to stop until a " suitable alternative" is established to represent minority groups in the curriculum. Democratic State Representative LaShawn K. Ford said "current history teachings lead to a racist society and overlook the contributions of women and minorities," according to NBC Chicago. The state representative is calling for schools to discard history books "that unfairly communicate our history."
- WorldReuters Videos
Former Pope Benedict is seriously ill: report
Former Pope Benedict XVI has reportedly become seriously ill, according to a German newspaper report. The paper, Passauer Neue Presse, says it got word from Benedict's biographer Peter Seewald, and that Seewald had seen the 93-year-old at the Vatican on Saturday. A Vatican spokesperson had no comment on the report, but according to Seewald the former pope is suffering from shingles, a viral infection that causes painful rashes and is common among older people.
- WorldNational Review
Massive Explosions Devastate Beirut
Lebanese security forces claimed the explosion took place at a fireworks factory. Terrorist group Hezbollah is suspected to control weapons depots and even missile launch sites in the city. “We are closely following reports of an explosion in Beirut on August 4,” a State Department spokesperson told National Review.
- U.S.Military.com
Marine AAV Hit Rough Seas, Rapidly Took on Water Before Sinking
Berger last week halted all water operations for AAVs until the Marine Corps determines what caused one to sink. The service's fleet of AAVs date back to the early 1970s, and have been involved in deadly accidents in the past. The Marine Corps is in the process of replacing those vehicles, but that's not set to begin for several more months.
- U.S.National Review
Protesters Prevent Police from Investigating Stabbing Outside of Portland Courthouse
A “hostile crowd” prevented Portland police from investigating a stabbing at the site of nightly racial justice protests and rioting on Monday. A woman had walked into Lownsdale Square park in downtown Portland and was taking photos or recording video just before 6:30 p.m. when an argument began between the woman and other people in the park. Officers were met with a “hostile crowd” on the scene and were forced to bring in reinforcements to the area.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
Beirut Ignored Public Warning There Was a Russian ‘Bomb’ at the Port
Years before a devastating blast killed at least 100 people and injured more than 4,000 in Beirut Tuesday, a maritime analyst issued a public warning that a Russian “floating bomb” was languishing in the city's docks. Maritime monitoring systems tracked the Rhosus into port in Beirut in September 2013. The ship, which was flagged in Moldova, listed its official cargo as “agricultural commodities.”
- PoliticsYahoo News
Poll gives Democrats bad news in key Senate race
Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines, running for reelection, holds a 6-point lead against Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock in a race that will help decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, according to a poll released Monday by Emerson College. Daines received 50 percent support in the poll, while 44 percent said they would vote for Bullock. Like other traditionally Republican strongholds, Montana is being looked at to see whether support for President Trump has softened, giving Democrats a better chance of retaking control of the Senate.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Bill Gates: What Joe Biden should do on his first day in office to stop the coronavirus, if he is elected
Gates said Biden should listen to the experts more, encourage mask wearing, stay in the World Health Organization, and fix the painfully slow US coronavirus testing system. Bill Gates doesn't skip a beat when imagining how the US might approach the coronavirus pandemic differently if the country were to elect a new president this November. "If he wins, what do you think Joe Biden should do about the coronavirus, on January 21st?" I asked Gates, during our recent interview.
- WorldAssociated Press
France won't ratify Hong Kong's extradition agreement
France has decided not to ratify an extradition agreement with Hong Kong after China's central government in Beijing imposed a new national security law on the city. The French Foreign Ministry's spokesperson said in a written statement on Monday that “in light of the latest developments, France won't proceed with the ratification” of the 2017 extradition agreement with Hong Kong “as it stands.” Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States suspended their extradition treaties with Hong Kong last month amid fears that the central Chinese government was infringing on the city's freedoms and local autonomy.
- WorldUSA TODAY
This is what it looked like after the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima 75 years ago
The most powerful weapon to ever be used against other humans was detonated by the United States in Japan 75 years ago. On August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber famously known as the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, marking the first of two times the bomb has ever been used in warfare. The city was leveled – less than 10 percent of the buildings in Hiroshima were left undamaged by the bomb, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
- WorldReuters
Modi, Muslims to attend temple ceremony on contested India site
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and two prominent Muslims who lived through deadly riots following the razing of a mosque in 1992 plan to attend the foundation-laying ceremony for a Hindu temple on Wednesday on the same site. Modi, whose Hindu nationalist party had led demands for a temple there dedicated to the god-king Ram, will unveil a plaque, his office said in a statement. His visit to the northern Indian town of Ayodhya comes despite his interior and energy ministers both testing positive for COVID-19 days after a cabinet meeting last week.
- U.S.INSIDER
Parents in a school district in Georgia, are demanding in-person classes. But hundreds of employees have tested positive or been exposed to COVID-19, revealing the biggest blind spot in the fight to reopen schools
Octavio Jones/Getty Images At least 260 employees at Gwinnett County School District in Georgia have either tested positive for coronavirus or been exposed to the coronavirus, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. It's the largest school district in the state, and the report comes a day after teachers began in-person pre-planning for the semester, according to WBS. The incident raised questions about the risks adults in schools take when it comes to in-person sessions.
- U.S.BBC
Apple Fire: Massive California wildfire forces evacuations
Fire crews in California are battling a massive wildfire that has forced thousands of people from their homes east of Los Angeles. More than 1,300 firefighters, backed by helicopters and water-dumping planes, have been tackling the blaze dubbed the Apple Fire which started on Friday. Parts of the fire are on steep, rugged hillsides, making it hard for fire engines to reach.
- U.S.National Review
Seattle Police Chief Urges City Council to Stop Protestors’ Intimidation Tactics after Group Visits Her Home
Seattle police chief Carmen Best is urging the city council to take a stand against protestors intimidating public officials and employees after “a large group of aggressive protestors” visited her home on Sunday night. “I urge both of you, and the entire council, to stand up for what is right,” Best wrote Monday in a letter addressed to the council's president Lorena González and public safety chair Lisa Herbold. “Before this devolves into the new way of doing business by mob rule here in Seattle, and across the nation, elected officials like you must forcefully call for the end of these tactics,” she added.
- U.S.The Independent
Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US identified by the USDA
The mysterious seed packs from China that hundreds of Americans received in the mail have been identified, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Federal officials warned those who received the seeds not to plant them over fears that some may be invasive species and could destroy native plants and insects. Osama El-Lissy, a member of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said officials had identified more than a dozen plant species included in the seed packets.
- PoliticsThe Week
Trump under investigation for bank and insurance fraud in New York, new court filing suggests
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's recent court filing suggests President Trump and his company, The Trump Organization, may be under investigation for possible bank and insurance fraud, The New York Times reports. The filing was made in response to a lawsuit by Trump's attorneys who have argued prosecutors were acting in "bad faith" by issuing a "wildly overbroad" subpoena seeking Trump's personal and corporate tax returns. Vance didn't disclose anything specific about what compelled him to go after the records, but the filing argued the subpoena wasn't too broad, since that notion is based on the "false premise" that the probe is limited to "hush-money" payments made by the president's...
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Tucker: ‘Probably Illegal’ for Biden to Only Consider a Black Woman VP
Fox News star Tucker Carlson—currently facing outrage from network colleagues over his racist rhetoric—upped the ante on Monday night, claiming it was “probably illegal” for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to prioritize Black women in his running-mate search, while calling those candidates unqualified. Carlson, whose former head writer was recently outed as an outspoken racist, kicked off Monday night's broadcast of his hit primetime show by singling out the women of color whom Biden is reportedly considering as the vice-presidential nominee. The far-right Fox host first described Rep. Bass (D-CA) as a “lunatic Fidel Castro acolyte” and an armed revolutionary, referring to her past praise of the Cuban dictator and work for a young leftist group during the 1970s.
- WorldBusiness Insider
A woman allegedly smashed a police officer's head into concrete after being told to wear a mask
A woman in Melbourne, Australia, allegedly "smashed" a police officer's head into concrete "several times" after being told to wear a mask, the Evening Standard reported. A woman in Australia allegedly slammed a police officer's face into the concrete multiple times Monday after the officer asked her to wear a face mask, the Evening Standard reported. The 26-year-old officer and her colleague approached the mask-less 38-year-old woman while on patrol near a Melbourne shopping center.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
House committees subpoena top Pompeo aides over IG firing
House Democrats have subpoenaed four top aides to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying that the Trump administration is stonewalling their investigation into the firing of the State Department's top independent watchdog earlier this year. Former State Department Inspector General Steve Linick appeared for a closed-door interview in the probe in June and told investigators that top department officials tried to bully him and dissuade his office from conducting a review of a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia before he was fired. Linick also said he was looking into previously reported allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife may have misused government staff to run personal errands and several other matters.
“He’s not a radical. But he is running on the most liberal policy platform of any Democratic candidate in modern history.”
“Public opinion has been shifting leftward, and Biden’s thinking has shifted with it.”
“Biden shows that he’s more moderate than some in his party.”
“Biden has always been a creature of his time, and the COVID-19 crisis could force him to veer further left.”
“Liberal activists have lauded the campaign’s outreach to progressives.”