- 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.
- 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.
- U.S.The Telegraph
Governor Cuomo begs wealthy New Yorkers to come home to save ailing city
The governor of New York has begged the city's wealthy, who fled the coronavirus outbreak, to return and help it recover. Andrew Cuomo said he was extremely worried about New York City weathering the Covid-19 aftermath if too many of the well-heeled taxpayers who fled to second homes decide there is no need to move back. They are in their Hamptons homes, or Hudson Valley or Connecticut.
- 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.
- 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
- WorldNational Review
Lebanon PM Blames Beirut Explosions on Shipment of Ammonium Nitrate Sitting in Port Since 2013
Massive explosions that rocked the city of Beirut on Tuesday were fueled by a 2,750-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in port since 2013, Lebanon's prime minister announced. “I will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened, to hold him accountable and impose the most severe penalties,” Prime Minister Hassan Diab told reporters on Tuesday evening. It was not immediately clear why the ammonium nitrate was stored at that location, or how it ended up there.
- 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."
- WorldThe Guardian
Mexico hails 'Sledgehammer' arrest but murder crisis still a tough nut to crack
Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has hailed the capture of one of the country's most notorious gangsters as an important victory in his so far fruitless struggle to slash murder rates. In a Sunday night video message to the nation, López Obrador said security forces had seized “El Marro” or “the Sledgehammer” – the head of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel – at about 6am that morning in the violence-stricken state of Guanajuato. How is it that this cartel was able to grow so much – to the extent that Guanajuato became our country's most violent state?
- U.S.USA TODAY
An Indiana school reopened for students. There was a positive COVID-19 test on day one.
A junior high school in Greenfield, Indiana, received news on the first day of class that a student tested positive for the coronavirus, according to an email sent to families Thursday evening. The student attended part of the first day of classes at Greenfield Central Junior High School. The school district told families that its "Positive COVID-19 Test Protocol" was enacted as soon the school was alerted by the Hancock County Health Department.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Trump replied 'you can't do that' when his interviewer pointed out the US's terrible record on COVID-19 deaths per capita
Axios on HBO/YouTube President Donald Trump told the journalist Jonathan Swan "you can't do that" and criticized his reporting in a recent interview when Swan noted the high COVID-19 death rate per capita in the US. In an interview with Swan for "Axios on HBO," Trump instead pushed other measurements like the case fatality rate, where the US ranks more favorably among nations. When Swan pointed out that the US was averaging about 1,000 coronavirus deaths a day recently, Trump said "but you're reporting it wrong."
- WorldAssociated Press
Australia: British-Australian woman in Iran prison 'is well'
Australia's ambassador to Iran has visited a British-Australian academic who was convicted of espionage before being moved recently to a notorious Iranian prison, and found that she “is well,” Australia's government said Tuesday. Kylie Moore-Gilbert was a Melbourne University lecturer on Middle Eastern studies when she was sent to Tehran's Evin Prison in September 2018 and sentenced to 10 years. Australia sought urgent consular access and its ambassador to Iran, Lyndall Sachs, visited Moore-Gilbert in Qarchak Prison on Sunday, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or DFAT, said in a statement.
- U.S.NBC News
She got the virus. Then she was fired. Some sick workers left in cold by employers.
As of June 12, nearly 700 companies had violated the law's paid-leave provisions and owed back wages to hundreds of employees, according to Labor Department records. Violators include six McDonald's franchises and the franchise owners of a Comfort Suites, Courtyard by Marriott and Red Roof Inn. In all, the businesses owe $690,000 in unpaid wages to 527 employees, who are not identified in the documents.
- 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.
WorldAFPFrom Manhattan to Hiroshima: the race for the atom bomb
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki capped six years of top-secret work by scientists from Europe and North America. In 1939, Albert Einstein signs a letter warning US president Franklin D. Roosevelt of the destructive potential of nuclear fission, which was discovered by the German chemist Otto Hahn. Roosevelt creates the Advisory Body on Uranium.
- PoliticsFOX News Videos
Biden urged not to debate Trump so president doesn't have another platform to 'lie'
Republican strategist Joseph Pinion and Democratic political analyst Kelly Hyman react.
- 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
George Floyd: Leaked police bodycam footage shows how fatal arrest began
Leaked body camera footage shows George Floyd begging for his life in the moments leading up to his arrest and subsequent death at the knee of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin. Video recorded on the body cameras of two other former officers, Thomas Lane, 37, and J. Kueng, 26, shows the initial moments of the confrontation between Mr Floyd and officers outside a Minneapolis shop on 25 May. A clip from the body camera of Mr Lane shows the fired officer approaching Mr Floyd as he sits in his car waiting for the police to arrive, having been accused of using a counterfeit $20 (£15) bill.
U.S.USA TODAYSplash Mountain log flume ride sinks at Disney World's Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World's Splash Mountain hit rough waters Sunday as Twitter users posted video of a submerged log flume ride they were in only moments earlier. The riders tweeted that the ride began taking on water, and they decided to evacuate even though a Disney employee told them they should have stayed in the boat. In a video that's been viewed nearly 200,000 times, a Twitter user named Sky shared footage of the boat after it sank.
- BusinessBusiness 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.
- Hundreds of billionaires pledged to give their fortunes away through Warren Buffett and Bill Gates' Giving Pledge, but very little money may be actually helping people, according to a new studyBusiness Insider
- Catabasis Pharmaceuticals and Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute to Study CAT-5571 in Drug-Sensitive and Drug-Resistant TuberculosisBusiness Wire
- WorldAssociated Press
AP PHOTOS: Terror, death, devastation in Lebanon explosion
As they watched a huge mushroom cloud rise over the seaport capital, many who felt the massive explosion in Beirut on Tuesday thought it was a nuclear detonation. Others described the popping and bursting of fireworks and a raging fire that spread to another building, triggering the blast felt kilometers (miles) away. The explosion collapsed balconies, shattered windows and ripped bricks from buildings, killing more than 70 people and injuring more than 3,000.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
White House responds to Trump encouraging voting by mail in Florida after criticizing it for months
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh Mcenany responded to Tuesday to President Trump encouraging voting by mail in Florida after criticizing it for months.
- U.S.Reuters
Isaias strengthens into hurricane ahead of expected landfall in Carolinas
Isaias regained hurricane strength on Monday night just hours before it was due to make landfall in the Carolinas and churn its way up the U.S. East Coast toward Washington, Philadelphia and New York, the National Hurricane Center said. Isaias strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane, at the bottom of the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, with maximum sustained winds reaching 85 miles per hour (137 kilometers per hour), the NHC said in its latest bulletin. Life-threatening winds and storm surges - high waters swept in from shore - were expected along the coast of the Carolinas, while heavy rains inland could unleash flash floods, the Miami-based forecaster said.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Explosion rocks central Beirut
A massive explosion shook Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday wounding dozens, according to a security source. The health ministry reported "a large number of wounded" by the afternoon blast that shook several parts of the capital. Video shared online showed an enormous explosion near the Beirut waterfront followed by a billowing tower of orange smoke rising from near the port area.
- EntertainmentArchitectural Digest
Bower Studios and West Elm Reprise a Partnership With This New Collection
The release includes seven designs to bring harmony home Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldBBC
Islamic State group claims deadly attack on Afghanistan prison
At least 29 people have been killed in an attack on a prison in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad which saw more than 1,000 inmates try to flee. The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group (IS), began on Sunday evening when car bombs were detonated at the prison's entrance by gunmen. Eight of the attackers were killed in a battle lasting almost 20 hours, a Nangarhar province spokesman said.
“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.”