WorldYahoo NewsThe CIA sent a team of 4 operators on a spy mission targeting China. None came back.
The company is, in fact, a commercial cover for the CIA's Maritime Branch, according to a former CIA employee. We build these companies from whole cloth, from the ground up,” the former CIA employee told Yahoo News, which is not identifying its name, since it is still used in ongoing covert operations. Maritime Branch is one of the CIA's paramilitary components.
PoliticsLos Angeles Times OpinionOp-Ed: Democrats have a secret weapon to thwart a rapid Ginsburg replacement. They should use it
Wouldn't it be nice if Democrats and Republicans could just agree that the fair and right course would be to not replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg until after the presidential inauguration in January? We could simply stick, for now, with the precedent established by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when he refused to hold a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. At the time, nearly nine months before the 2016 presidential election, he declared, “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice.
U.S.Business InsiderA Florida bar owner is banning customers from wearing masks and asking them to leave if they do
Gary Kirby, the owner of Westside Sports Bar and Lounge in West Melbourne, Florida, has a no-mask policy for his customers amid the coronavirus pandemic. Customers who refuse to take off their face masks at Kirby's bar will be asked to leave, WESH 2 reported. West Melbourne, which is located in Brevard County, doesn't have mask-wearing enforcement for business owners.
U.S.INSIDERAn elementary school teacher asked parents to wear clothes and avoid appearing with 'big joints' in the background of Zoom classes
In a Palm Beach County school board meeting earlier this week, elementary school teacher Edith Pride implored parents to behave appropriately during their children's remote school days, which are filmed and recorded. In her three-minute speech, Pride asked parents to "have on proper clothing" and avoid "appearing with big joints" in the background of their children's videoconferences during the school day. Several other Palm Beach County school teachers reported similar incidents of alcohol consumption, partial nudity, or drug use in the background of virtual lessons.
PoliticsUSA TODAYArizona Senate candidate Mark Kelly could take office early if he wins, putting him in place for a court vote
If Democrat Mark Kelly defeats incumbent Sen. Martha McSally in Arizona's high-stakes U.S. Senate race, he may not have to wait long to start work in Washington, D.C. Two Republican and Democratic election attorneys agree that state law and Senate practices would make Kelly eligible to take over the seat once held by Sen. John McCain as soon as Nov. 30, when the state election results are expected to be canvassed. If that happens, Kelly would help to narrow Republicans' 53-47 majority in the chamber in a post-election, lame-duck session when the GOP could seek to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away Friday.
U.S.The WeekTrump's club charged Secret Service agents $500 a night for rentals even when it was closed for the pandemic
Taxpayers' bills for Trump Organization properties have surpassed $1.1 million, The Washington Post reports. As the Post has consistently reported via Secret Service bills, President Trump and his administration have repeatedly funneled government money to the family's properties throughout his term. That has included above-market rates for rentals that ensured Secret Service agents stayed close to Trump and, most recently, payments to one club that was closed for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Post's David Fahrenthold reports via the latest round of receipts and invoices.
U.S.Business InsiderA dentist who pulled someone's tooth while riding a hoverboard has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud and 'unlawful dental acts'
An Alaska dentist who pulled a woman's tooth while riding a hoverboard has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud, embezzlement, and "unlawful dental acts." The video was part of prosecutors' case against Seth Lookhart, who was found guilty of defrauding his customers by administering unnecessary procedures to rack up Medicare charges. Prosecutors are seeking $2.2 million in damanges, and Lookhart could also permanently lose his medical license in the state.
WorldReutersTaiwan president says has no plans to talk to Japan's new PM
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Sunday that there was no plan for her talk by telephone with new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, after a Japanese envoy had told Tsai that Suga might be open to it, prompting concern in Beijing. Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has close cultural and historic ties with Japan, though Japan, like most countries, recognises China's government in Beijing, not Taiwan's. Meeting Tsai in Taipei on Friday, former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori, visiting for a memorial service for late president Lee Teng-hui, said Suga told him that "if there is the opportunity, he hopes to speak by phone or other means".
U.S.NBC NewsNC woman still missing two years after she left baby with family reportedly to visit sick mother in Mexico
Maria Garcia knows exactly how many days have passed since her daughter disappeared. Sunday marks 854 days without Nancy Troche Garcia, and her mother said she has suffered tremendously through each and every one of them. Nancy was last seen on May 20, 2018, in Asheboro, North Carolina.
PoliticsUSA TODAYWho might succeed Justice Ginsburg? Trump's short list begins with these five women (and one man)
A finalist for Trump's second high court nomination, which ultimately went to Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, Barrett, 48, is a favorite of religious conservatives. Barrett rocketed to the top of Trump's list of potential nominees after her 2017 confirmation hearing for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, when Democrats cited her deep Catholic faith not as an advantage but an obstacle.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
Poll: Only 22 percent of Americans think the 2020 presidential election will be ‘free and fair’
Just 22% of Americans believe this year's presidential election will be “free and fair,” according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll — a disturbing loss of confidence in the democratic process that could foreshadow a catastrophic post-election period with millions of partisans refusing to accept the legitimacy of the results.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderTrump says Kamala Harris can't be the first woman to be president because she 'comes in through the back door'
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, couldn't become the first woman to be president. Trump has dug into Joe Biden's running mate ever since she became the first Black woman to be on a major party's presidential ticket. President Donald Trump on Thursday continued his line of attack against Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, saying that "if a woman is going to become the first president of the United States, it can't be her."
WorldAssociated PressJailed Iranian rights lawyer hospitalized amid hunger strike
A leading Iranian human rights lawyer has been hospitalized a month after launching a hunger strike seeking better prison conditions and the release of political prisoners amid the pandemic, her husband said Saturday. Reza Khandan said that healthcare professionals decided to hospitalize his wife, Nasrin Sotoudeh, because of heart and respiratory problems as well as low blood pressure. Khandan said Sotoudeh was transferred to a hospital in north Tehran from the notorious Evin Prison earlier on Saturday.
BusinessINSIDERHundreds of Wynn Resorts employees in Las Vegas have tested positive for coronavirus since its re-opening in June, the company says
Nearly 500 employees at Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas have tested positive for the coronavirus since re-opening in June, the company said in a press release. Wynn Resorts said it has conducted 15,051 tests and found 548 positive cases, meaning the positivity test rate was 3.6% — "well below the US national average," the company said. The company said Wynn Las Vegas has hosted more than 500,000 guests since its re-opening, and six guests have tested positive after being offered in-room testing.
BusinessUSA TODAYTrump has approved a deal between Walmart, Oracle and TikTok so the app won't be banned
President Donald Trump said he has approved a bid by Oracle and Walmart to take over TikTok's U.S. operations in a move that would mean the app beloved by American teens won't be banned after all. Trump told reporters the news Saturday as he left the White House, saying that the combined company is "conceptually" a great deal for the U.S. The new company will continue to go by the name TikTok, Trump said. In an emailed statement, TikTok said it's pleased that the proposed deal between the three companies settles questions around the app's future in the states.
WorldAssociated PressAP PHOTOS: Elderly protesters defy Belarus' strongman
Thousands of protesters who have flooded Belarusian cities for six weeks of demonstrations to demand an end to the 26-year rule of the country's authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko include people of all ages, professions and social groups. While younger people make up the bulk of the protests pushing for Lukashenko's resignation after the Aug. 9 vote that the opposition sees as rigged, many retirees also have joined the daily demonstrations. The 73-year-old former geologist has become one of the most recognizable faces of Belarus protests, fearlessly waving a huge red-and-white opposition flag in front of riot police.
WorldThe Daily BeastDid Russian Spies Use Diplomatic Cover to Run a Global Cocaine-Smuggling Operation?
In 2012, Ali Abyanov, the head of the administrative and economics department at the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires, said he received a call from someone who introduced himself as Andrei Kovalchuk, a security officer at the Russian embassy in Berlin. According to the case files, Kovalchuk told his ostensible colleague that he'd be traveling to Argentina in the middle of the year and would very much like to meet. Abyanov later told Russian investigators that he didn't know why this person had called him or why he wanted to meet him but he consented anyway.
PoliticsThe Independent‘Only a ghoul would tweet something like this’: Republican senators under fire for online responses to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death
Several Republican senators have been heavily criticised for their public responses to the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – one of them for sending out fundraising messages just minutes after her death. First-term Iowa senator Joni Ernst, whose chances of re-election are on a knife-edge, expressed her condolences at Justice Ginsburg's passing on Twitter – only for her campaign to send out fundraising messages. Local political news site Iowa Starting Line reported that just 10 minutes after the announcement of Justice Ginsburg's death, the Ernst campaign sent Supreme Court-themed calls for donations by both texts and emails.
PoliticsINSIDERTrump spent 45 minutes 'going off' on Tucker Carlson instead of sticking to critical agenda during coronavirus meeting, a former aide says
Olivia Troye, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence, said that President Donald Trump spent 45 minutes criticizing a Fox News host during a critical coronavirus meeting. On the agenda for the meeting was a discussion on evacuation procedures for people on cruise ships, "which was a big issue at the very beginning of this pandemic," Troye said. The meeting turned into "45 minutes of going off on Tucker Carlson," Troye said.
U.S.Business InsiderThe physician accused of performing unwanted hysterectomies in an ICE detention center is not a board certified OB-GYN
Dr. Mahendra Amin, a physician accused of performing unnecessary and unwanted hysterectomies in an immigrant detention facility in Georgia, is not a board-certified OB-GYN, The Daily Beast reported. Amin was identified as the doctor named in a complaint filed to the Office of the Inspector general on behalf of a whistleblower who previously worked as a nurse in the Irwin County Detention Center A spokesperson for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) told the Daily Beast that its records show that Amin is not certified by the organization.
HealthUSA TODAYRare conjoined twins, born locked in embrace, successfully separated in Michigan
Sarabeth and Amelia Irwin were locked in an embrace when they were born at 11:06 a.m. June 11, 2019. Conjoined from their chests to their bellies, the identical twins' arms wrapped around one another as they were carefully lifted from their mother's womb at Michigan Medicine's Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital in Ann Arbor, said Dr. Marcie Treadwell, director of Michigan Medicine's Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center. About 14 months later, the twins returned to Ann Arbor, where they underwent an 11-hour surgery Aug. 5 at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, becoming the first known set of conjoined twins to be successfully separated in Michigan.
PoliticsThe Daily BeastThe Year the GOP Lost to Carter and Embraced the Dark Side
Republican Barry Goldwater flipped those five states in 1964 by appealing to white voters who opposed Lyndon Johnson's Civil Rights Act, and Richard Nixon held onto them with racially coded talk of “states' rights,” “law and order” in what came to be known as the Southern Strategy. Jimmy Carter—a peanut farmer, evangelical Christian, and Georgia Democrat—scrambled the Southern Strategy in 1976 by running as a non-ideological antidote to Republicans who were reeling from Richard Nixon's resignation and Gerald Ford's deeply unpopular pardoning of his Watergate crimes. Ronald Reagan won in the Deep South and nearly everywhere else in 1980.
PoliticsSalonFox News' Brit Hume begs Trump to not push through Ginsberg replacement before the election
Brit Hume Fox News Fox News contributor Brit Hume reacted to the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by cautioning Republican leaders against replacing the liberal icon before the November election. Hume made the remarks on Fox News after noting that both President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have previously vowed to hypothetically have a nominee approved before the election. "Lindsey Graham back in 2018… said that even if were were just into the primary season, he would not want to see a nominee advance in the election year," Hume explained.
BusinessBusiness InsiderBill Gates says Elon Musk couldn't be confused with Steve Jobs and that electric cars are 'far easier' than other climate change technology
Bill Gates doesn't think it's fair to call Elon Musk "the next Steve Jobs," the billionaire philanthropist said during an interview on Bloomberg TV Thursday. When asked by Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker if Musk was indeed the next Jobs, Gates replied: "If you know people personally, that kind of gross oversimplification seems strange. Elon's more of a hands-on engineer; Steve was a genius at design and picking people and marketing.
WorldThe TelegraphNicola Sturgeon warns Scots to prepare for 'circuit break' lockdown restrictions next week
Nicola Sturgeon has warned Scots to prepare for a swathe of new nationwide lockdown restrictions next week as a "circuit break" to stop the resurgence of coronavirus. The First Minister said "hard but necessary" decisions may be needed in the coming days to prevent a second full lockdown and the country is at "probably the most critical point" since the first one was imposed in late March. Both Ms Sturgeon and Boris Johnson are considering a 'circuit breaker' plan, which would see curfews and restrictions on activities for at least a fortnight and probably longer.
“The SAT is emblematic of higher education’s failure to keep up with the times...Just the stuff that systemic racism thrives on.”
“These tests create unnecessary stress for young people already dealing with mental health challenges.”
“Dropping the SAT requirement makes it harder for colleges to compare applicants against a common standard.”
“The best predictor of college success overall is a simple one: high school grades.”
“What matters more is a broader push to help minority students get better educations.”