- PoliticsYahoo News
White House defends Trump's claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are 'harmless' with chart showing 5 percent are fatal
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany came to her press briefing on Monday prepared to defend President Trump's claim over the weekend that “99 percent” of U.S. coronavirus cases are “totally harmless” with two charts illustrating the country's COVID-19 death rate. But McEnany's slides showed a case fatality rate — the percentage of confirmed cases that result in death — of 4.6 percent, not the 1 percent implied by Trump. During a July 4 “Salute to America” speech on the South Lawn of the White House, Trump boasted that the administration has conducted more than 40 million coronavirus tests.
- U.S.Yahoo News
Video shows Black man pinned to tree in what he calls 'attempted lynching' at Indiana lake
Indiana authorities are investigating a report by a Black man who said he was pinned to a tree by a group of white men, an attack he likened to an “attempted lynching.” Parts of the incident were captured on video by one of the man's friends. In a post to Facebook, Vauhxx Booker wrote, “I don't want to recount this, but I was almost the victim of an attempted lynching.”
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Mary Kay Letourneau, Teacher Who Abused and Then Married Student, Dies of Cancer
Mary Kay Letourneau—who gained tabloid infamy for raping her 12-year-old former student, having children with him, and later marrying him—has died of cancer, her attorneys said. “Expected but sad anyway,” her attorney David Gehrke, told TV station KOMO. Letourneau was a married mom of four working as a sixth-grade teacher in Washington state in 1997 when she was arrested for sexual contact with Fualaau.
WorldAFPChina detains professor who criticised Xi over coronavirus
Chinese authorities on Monday detained a law professor who published essays criticising President Xi Jinping over the coronavirus pandemic and accusing him of ruling "tyrannically", according to friends of the man. Xu Zhangrun, a rare outspoken critic of the government in China's heavily censored academia, was taken from his home in suburban Beijing by more than 20 people, one of his friends said on condition of anonymity. Xu published an essay in February blaming the culture of deception and censorship fostered by Xi for the spread of the coronavirus in China.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoThe Lincoln Project continues anti-Trump ad campaign
On Tuesday, the Lincoln Project, a conservative political action committee formed in late 2019, released an ad titled “Whispers,” which suggests those in President Trump's inner circle are secretly mocking him. This is the latest in a series of attack ads produced and distributed by the committee, whose members include George Conway, Steve Schmidt and other prominent Republicans who oppose Trump. Yahoo News has assembled a compilation of some of the Lincoln Project's most controversial advertisements.
- WorldReuters
FBI chief says China threatens families to coerce overseas critics to return to China
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday urged China-born people in the United States to contact the FBI if Chinese officials try to force them to return to China under a program of coercion that he said is led by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Wray issued the unusual appeal in an address to the Hudson Institute think tank in which he reiterated U.S. charges that China is using espionage, cyber theft, blackmail and other means as part of a strategy to replace the United States as the world's dominant economic and technological power.
- U.S.The Independent
Republican official apologises for cartoon comparing order to wear masks to Nazi extermination camps
A Kansas Republican official has apologised following the publication in his newspaper of a political cartoon likening face mask requirements to the Holocaust. The Anderson County Review, a rural newspaper in Kansas owned by the county GOP chair Dane Hicks, ran a cartoon suggesting compliance with state face mask mandates was akin to stepping onto a train bound for a concentration camp. The cartoon features an image of Kansas governor Laura Kelly wearing a face mask with a Star of David on it.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Tucker Carlson Doubles Down on Duckworth Attacks, Calls Her a ‘Coward’ and ‘Fraud’
A night after saying Iraq War veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) hates America, Fox News host Tucker Carlson doubled down on his attacks, describing the Purple Heart recipient who lost her legs in combat as a “coward” and “fraud.” During his Monday night broadcast, the primetime conservative star played an abbreviated clip of Duckworth saying there should be a “national dialogue” over the possible removal of statues, touting it as proof that she supposedly wants to “get rid of George Washington” while questioning her patriotism. “You're not supposed to criticize Tammy Duckworth in any way because she once served in the military,” he added.
- U.S.Associated Press
Black Lives Matter protesters face rare leak charge in Iowa
Prosecutors in Iowa have filed a rarely used leak charge against Black Lives Matter protesters accused of stealing a confidential police document and displaying it during a television news broadcast. Two protesters are charged with unauthorized dissemination of intelligence data, a felony that carries up to five years in prison. The Iowa Judicial Branch says it's only the second time that the charge has been filed since 2010.
- PoliticsNBC News
Supreme Court rules 'faithless electors' can't go rogue at Electoral College
The 538 people who cast the actual votes for president in December as part of the Electoral College are not free agents and must vote as the laws of their states direct, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous decision in the "faithless elector" case was a defeat for advocates of changing the Electoral College, who hoped a win would force a shift in the method of electing presidents toward a nationwide popular vote. Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said the Constitution gives states far-reaching authority over choosing presidential electors.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Another Confederate statue in Richmond, Va., comes down along Monument Avenue
Another Confederate statue on Richmond's iconic Monument Avenue was removed Tuesday, the third in a week and the final one owned by the city that was once the capital of the Confederacy. The bronze monument to Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart on horseback was hoisted from its granite base as crowds cheered early Tuesday. The Stuart statue was one of four monuments of prominent Confederate leaders owned by the city of Richmond that have been removed in recent weeks.
- EntertainmentArchitectural Digest
Olson Kundig’s Latest Design Embraces Its Hawaiian Habitat
On a stunning lava rock field site in Kona, this stunning home seems to hover over the landscape as a series of pavilions Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- ScienceBusiness Insider
NASA's powerful Hubble space telescope has beamed back a striking photo of a 'fluffy' galaxy with a ghostly, empty center
By contrast, other spiral galaxies — including the Milky Way — have more distinct arms where stars and gas are compressed. Hubble is NASA's strongest telescope — but not for long NASA launched Hubble into Earth's orbit in April 1990. Since then, the telescope has discovered new planets, revealed strange galaxies, and provided new insights into the nature of black holes.
- WorldThe National Interest
Could 'Baby' Aircraft Carriers Be the Next U.S. Navy Super Weapon?
The Navy can buy smaller, cheaper carriers rather than the $13 billion Ford-class behemoths it is currently constructing, according to a new study by RAND Corporation. The RAND study is a public version of a classified study conducted in 2016 at the behest of the U.S. Navy, which was ordered by Congress to examine cheaper options than the Ford-class carriers. It would be powered by forty-year nuclear reactors that couldn't be replaced, rather than the current twenty-five-year reactors on the Fords that can replaced to extend the life of the ship.
- U.S.Reuters
California coronavirus cases surge more than 10,000 in single day
California reported more than 10,000 coronavirus cases on Tuesday, a record rise for a single day that also surpassed the number of contact tracers recently trained by the state to detect and prevent potential outbreaks. California is one of several U.S. states that have reported surging numbers of new COVID-19 infections over the past week, raising questions about how U.S. President Donald Trump has handled the crisis and impeding state plans to lift lockdowns. The 10,201 new cases reported on Tuesday took the total number of cases in California since the start of the pandemic to nearly 284,00.
- U.S.The Independent
New York mayor blames 'dislocation' caused by coronavirus for wave of shootings that left 10 dead and 54 injured over weekend
At least 10 people were killed among 64 shootings reported in New York City over the Fourth of July weekend, which saw a violent spree in several major cities still reeling from coronavirus infections and widespread protests against police violence. For the first time since 2016, the city surpassed 400 shootings by mid-year. The New York Police Department reported that the city saw 528 shootings by the end of June, one of the most violent halves of the year in more than 20 years.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Texas Governor Is ‘Putting Lives at Risk,’ Local Officials Say
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo believes she knows what her county needs to fight back against COVID-19. “I'm at the mercy of what powers he positively gives us,” Hidalgo told The Daily Beast. As Texas faces a resurgent coronavirus and some officials have emphasized concerns about hospitals in the state becoming potentially overrun or overwhelmed, Hidalgo can find plenty of reasons to worry.
- U.S.INSIDER
A former National Guard colonel apologized but will keep her professor job after saying sexual harassment is the 'price of admission for women' in the military
University of Wisconsin , Fort Hood Betsy Schoeller, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and retired member of the Wisconsin Air Guard, apologized for her comments in a Facebook group on a news article about murdered US Army soldier Vanessa Guillén. Schoeller wrote that "sexual harassment is the price of admission for women into the good ole boy club" and "if you're gonna cry like a snowflake about it, you're gonna pay the price." A petition to remove Schoeller as a lecturer from UWM has amassed more than 135,000 signatures, but the university said "legal reasons" concerning her right to freedom of speech won't let it fire her.
- WorldAssociated Press
Australia warns of 'arbitrary detention' risk in China
Australia on Tuesday warned its citizens that they may be at risk of “arbitrary detention” if they visit China, in a move that will further test strained bilateral relations. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in an updated travel advisory for China that “authorities have detained foreigners because they're 'endangering national security,'” adding that “Australians may also be at risk of arbitrary detention." It is not clear what prompted the warning, which comes as bilateral relations between the free trade partners have plummeted over Australia's calls for an independent investigation into the coronavirus pandemic.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Michigan drivers met with startling billboard message: 'Driving while Black? Racial profiling just ahead'
Motorists in Michigan were met with a startling message Monday on an electronic billboard in Redford Township. The organizer behind the billboard lives in Livonia and said it is an effort to awaken the city to problems that continue to exist with profiling and other forms of racism. The mayor called the billboard counterproductive.
- U.S.USA TODAY Opinion
Prioritize COVID aid for child care and schools to help parents and the economy: GOP leader
Any additional financial relief considered by Congress to businesses to aid in the economic recovery should prioritize child care providers and schools. Small home-based providers should be treated like start-ups and given small business support, including access to regional networks, to help improve quality and access to group purchasing power. This will also help providers with recruitment and professional development of the workforce, for both new and returning employees.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Kremlin vows to retaliate against fresh UK sanctions against Russians
The Kremlin spokesman says that Moscow will respond to new UK sanctions against Russian citizens including a senior investigator and prison officials. Britain on Monday used a new legislation drafted in the memory of a killed Russian tax adviser to sanction 25 Russian nationals linked to prosecution and mistreatment of tax adviser Sergei Magnitsky as well as 20 Saudis involved in the murder of a journalist in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday that Moscow “can only lament such hostile steps.”
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
15 Air-Purifying Plants to Cleanse Your Space of Chemicals and Toxins
Breathe easy with these powerhouse plants that purify the air Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- ScienceReuters
Scientists warn of potential wave of COVID-linked brain damage
Scientists warned on Wednesday of a potential wave of coronavirus-related brain damage as new evidence suggested COVID-19 can lead to severe neurological complications, including inflammation, psychosis and delirium. A study by researchers at University College London (UCL)described 43 cases of patients with COVID-19 who suffered either temporary brain dysfunction, strokes, nerve damage or other serious brain effects. "Whether we will see an epidemic on a large scale of brain damage linked to the pandemic – perhaps similar to the encephalitis lethargica outbreak in the 1920s and 1930s after the 1918 influenza pandemic – remains to be seen," said Michael Zandi, from UCL's Institute of Neurology, who co-led the study.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Lindsey Graham's Democratic opponent shatters record with nearly $14m in recent fundraising
South Carolina Democratic Senate nominee Jaime Harrison, who is challenging Republican Senator – and Donald Trump ally – Lindsey Graham, raised a record $13.9m for his campaign in the second quarter of 2020, he announced on Tuesday. The fundraising mark nearly doubles Mr Harrison's first-quarter haul of $7.3m, the Palmetto State's previous record for quarterly fundraising by a congressional candidate. The former state Democratic party chairman's prolific fundraising "reflects the grassroots energy behind Jaime's movement," his campaign said in a statement on Tuesday, and will enable it to "make the investments necessary to send Lindsey home for good."
