- PoliticsYahoo News
Conspiracy-mongering Republican seeking John Lewis seat gets social media boost from Trump
On Thursday evening, amid a fairly typical burst of presidential Twitter activity, President Trump retweeted two recent posts from the account of Angela Stanton-King, a Republican congressional candidate who has repeatedly used her social media feeds to promote content related to QAnon and other fringe conspiracy theories, including wildly implausible internet rumors about sex trafficking of children. Trump has also flirted with QAnon memes on social media, although his retweets of Stanton-King were not related to the loosely knit group whose followers have been described by the FBI as “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists.” In the first tweet, which was originally posted last week, Stanton-King describes herself as “a proud Black woman who supports @realDonaldTrump” and is “done with the Democrat Party lying to my community.”
- U.S.Yahoo News
Out of work and with families to feed, some Americans are lining up at food banks for the first time in their lives
As tens of millions of Americans have lost jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic, food banks across the country say they are facing an unprecedented surge in demand, comparable to a hurricane hitting the entire country at the same time. “I've been in food banking for 24 years, and in my tenure I've never seen such a dramatic increase in need literally overnight,” said Lisa Scales of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, referring to the initial spike in distribution in March, when the shutdowns started. Across the country, Americans who've never had to rely on food assistance before are turning to local organizations for aid.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The Russian owner who abandoned the ship full of ammonium nitrate that caused the Beirut explosion has been questioned by police in Cyprus, reports say
Hasenpusch/picture alliance via Getty Images/Business Insider Igor Grechushkin, the Russian owner of the ship that carried a huge cargo of explosives to Beirut, which exploded years later, was questioned by Cypriot police on Thursday, reports say. Grechushkin abandoned the MV Rhosus and its cargo of 2,750 tons of explosive ammonium nitrate in 2014. Lebanese authorities impounded the cargo until Tuesday's catastrophic explosion.
- U.S.USA TODAY Opinion
The National Rifle Association faces its worst nightmare: accountability
On Thursday, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association for breaking New York charities law — the result of an investigation into the NRA's finances that began in April 2019. The complaint seeks dissolution, meaning that if the NRA is found guilty, it could be disbanded by the state of New York. You don't have to be a lawyer to see how the NRA got into this mess.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Partisan divide among Americans who believe 'it is safe now' to reopen persists as COVID-19 cases rise, survey finds
Currently, 32% of Republicans believe it's safe now to hold elections where many people vote in-person, according to a survey from the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project. Comparatively, only 10% of Democrats believe it's safe now to hold elections. When people were asked if it will be safe to hold elections in a couple of weeks, months or more than six months, Republicans tended to be more open to the idea of reopening sooner than Democrats.
- U.S.The Independent
Woman confronting vandals covered in paint during renewed Portland protests
Protesters in Portland allegedly threw white paint over a woman, as demonstrators clashed with police for a third consecutive day. On Friday, following two days of protests marred by vandalism, more than 200 people clashed with police, as two other Black Lives Matter protests marched peacefully through the city. As the peaceful demonstrations took place, a separate group gathered at a park in east Portland and marched to the local precinct.
- WorldSouth Florida Sun Sentinel
Tropical wave on track to approach the mid-Atlantic
The National Hurricane Center is monitoring an area of low pressure as it continues make its way across the Atlantic. The weak system is expected to continue traveling in a westward motion toward the Caribbean Sea over the next several days. As of 8 a.m.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Former US soldiers sentenced to 20 years for bungled Venezuelan coup plot
A Venezuelan court sentenced two former US special forces soldiers to 20 years in prison for their part in a failed beach attack aimed at overthrowing President Nicolas Maduro, prosecutors announced late on Friday. Former Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry admitted to taking part in the May 4 operation orchestrated by a third ex-US soldier who remains in the United States, Venezuelan's chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab announced on Twitter. "THEY ADMITTED THEIR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FACTS," Saab wrote, adding that the case will continue for dozens of other defendants.
- U.S.Associated Press
Fort Hood commander's transfer on hold amid investigations
Army leaders have delayed the planned transfer of the Fort Hood commander, as a team of independent investigators heads to the base to determine whether leadership failures contributed to the murder of a soldier earlier this year, and several other deaths. Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, commander of Fort Hood, Texas, was slated to go to Fort Bliss, which is near El Paso, and take over leadership of the 1st Armored Division. Command of a division is a key step in an Army officer's career.
- PoliticsReuters
Appeals court rules for U.S. House over subpoena for ex-White House lawyer
A U.S. appeals court on Friday dealt the administration of President Donald Trump a major legal setback, ruling against its bid to block a Democratic-led congressional panel's subpoena for testimony from former White House Counsel Donald McGahn. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on a 7-2 vote said the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee had legal standing to seek to enforce the subpoena. "Today's decision is a profound victory for the rule of law and our constitutional system of government," said Representative Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the committee.
- U.S.Miami Herald
DeSantis doesn’t want lucrative deal going to company that botched unemployment system
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday slammed a potential new nine-figure contract between the state and the firm that built Florida's dysfunctional unemployment system. Deloitte Consulting was announced earlier this week as the state's preferred vendor for a potential $135 million contract to beef up Florida's Medicaid data infrastructure. This happened despite an ongoing state investigation into how Florida paid the firm more than $40 million starting in 2011 to build what turned out to be a frequently non-functional CONNECT unemployment site.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
A Sampling of Work From Mexico City’s Top Talents
A look at some of the design coming out of the cultural capital Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldBusiness Insider
An Air India plane carrying 190 people crashed in Calicut after overshooting the runway
Seventeen people were killed, the airline said in a statement to the Times of India. Another 123 people were injured, 15 of them seriously, the Times of India reported. Amit Shah, India's minister of home affairs, tweeted that the country's National Disaster Rescue Force was responding.
- CelebrityUSA TODAY
Decades after they last saw each other, homecoming king and queen reunited by chance on a dating app
When Janet Fenner and Gregory Dabice last stood together at the 50-yard-line in Montclair State University's football stadium, it was 1992 and they were being crowned homecoming king and queen, complete with plastic scepter and tiara. Where the student body had stood cheering wildly, the couple's combined seven children and guests sat quietly at a safe social distance, while Paul Cell, chief of university police, officiated. Rocky the Red Hawk mascot served as ring bearer, and a proclamation from university president Susan Cole was read, naming August 1 as Janet Fenner and Gregory Dabice Day.
- U.S.The Independent
New York is moving homeless people into luxury hotels to protect them against coronavirus and wealthy neighbourhoods aren't happy
But in recent days, residents of some wealthier areas of New York where some of the hotels are located have complained about what they describe as anti-social behaviour and drug use by homeless people in their neighbourhoods. In the Upper West Side, where the median house price is more than $1.8m, some residents have started a Facebook group to express their displeasure over the use of three high-end hotels in the area. Our community is terrified, angry and frightened,” one member of the 'Upper West Siders For Safer Streets' group told the New York Post.
- U.S.FOX News Videos
Robber snatches California man's life savings in front of bank
Francisco Cornejo walking to his car after making a hefty withdrawal from his account. He was carrying 200-thousand dollars when a robber attacked him and ripped away Conejo's bag of money. The thief escaped with the money and has yet to be arrested.
- U.S.National Review
Portland Police Chief Slams ‘Incomprehensible’ Violence, Says Rioters Target Local Officers with Mortars and Commercial-Grade Fireworks
Portland police chief Chuck Lovell slammed “incomprehensible” violence on Thursday after rioters moved to target city police precincts. Riots in Portland have been ongoing since the May death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers. Rioters targeted the city's federal courthouse for two months, assaulting federal officers with explosives and in some cases shining lasers to blind officers.
- U.S.Associated Press
US: Border tunnel appears to be 'most sophisticated'
An incomplete tunnel found stretching from Mexico to Arizona appears to be “the most sophisticated tunnel in U.S. history," authorities said. The tunnel intended for smuggling ran from a neighborhood in San Luis Río Colorado, Mexico, to San Luis, Arizona, where it stopped short of reaching the surface. It was built in an area that's not conducive to tunnels because of the terrain, and it had a ventilation system, water lines, electrical wiring, a rail system and extensive reinforcement, federal officials say.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Pro-Trump Group’s Lies Were Too Big for Facebook
Facebook has tried hard not to fact-check the political content on its platform but a multimillion dollar pro-Trump political action committee's troubles with the truth were so egregious, the social media company temporarily suspended their account on Thursday. The company took action against the account for the Committee to Defend the President, a political action committee which began in 2013 as an anti-Hillary Clinton group but which has since changed its focus to pro-Trump activism. “As a result of the Committee to Defend the President's repeated sharing of content determined by third-party fact-checkers to be false, they will not be permitted to advertise for a period of time," Facebook said in a statement.
- WorldBBC
India landslide: Dozens feared dead after flooding in Kerala
At least 22 people have been killed after monsoon-season floods triggered a landslide in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Houses in Idukki district were swept away after torrential rain and flooding late on Friday night. Rescuers have been recovering bodies from under debris but 44 people remain missing, Idduki MP Dean Kuriakose told the BBC.
- WorldReuters
Italian valley evacuated as cathedral-sized glacier slips
A melting glacier as large as a cathedral is at risk of breaking apart due to a heatwave, forcing the evacuation of part of an Italian alpine valley. The alarm was raised on Wednesday afternoon when experts in helicopters realised that the Planpincieux glacier, at an altitude of about 2,800 metres in the Ferret Valley in the Mont Blanc massif, was slipping dangerously. A heatwave has created a layer of water under the glacier, which is made up of about 500 cubic metres of ice - roughly the size of the Milan cathedral - making it more prone to a break.
- U.S.The Guardian
Thousands of bikers heading to South Dakota rally to be blocked at tribal land checkpoints
Thousands of bikers heading to South Dakota's 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally will not be allowed through Cheyenne River Sioux checkpoints, a spokesman for the Native American group said on Saturday. The decision to prevent access across tribal lands to the annual rally, which could attract as many as 250,000 bikers amid fears it could lead to a massive, regional coronavirus outbreak, comes as part of larger Covid-19 prevention policy. The policy has pitted seven tribes that make up the Great Sioux Nation against federal and state authorities, which both claim the checkpoints are illegal.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
GOP appeals after Judge dismisses lawsuit over House's proxy voting system established due to COVID-19
WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Thursday tossed out a Republican-led lawsuit aiming to halt an unprecedented proxy voting system established by the House of Representatives due to the coronavirus pandemic, ruling that the House was immune from such a legal challenge. The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in the District of Columbia by nearly two dozen House Republicans – led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. in May, argued the proxy voting rules violated the U.S. Constitution because under the Constitution, a majority of lawmakers must be present to take up business and vote on legislation.
- WorldLA Times
A roar, an explosion, then a blank: An L.A. Times reporter's ordeal in the Beirut blast
I don't know how I'm still here. On Tuesday, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate — a common fertilizer that's also highly explosive (it's Islamic State's chemical of choice) — blew up in Beirut's port. The blast, which ranks as one of the world's largest non-nuclear detonations, registered as a magnitude 3.3 earthquake and could be felt as far away as Cyprus.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Mauritius facing catastrophe as oil starts leaking from a shipwreck near pristine coral reefs
The island nation of Mauritius is facing an environmental crisis after a huge container ship ran aground and started to leak oil into an area home to some of the finest coral reefs in the world. Efforts to pump oil out of the ship have failed, and now there are fears that the carrier could start to break up, leading to an even greater leak and causing catastrophic damage on the island's pristine coastline. We are in an environmental crisis situation,” said the environment minister, Kavy Ramano, The carrier MV Wakashio, which belongs to a Japanese company and flew a Panamanian-flagged, was en route from China to Brazil when it ran aground near Pointe d'Esny on the island's southeastern coast ...
“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.”