PoliticsWashington Examiner'Freaks me out': Biden's whispering splits the internet
President Joe Biden generated some unintended headlines with his Thursday remarks on the bipartisan infrastructure accord. Multiple times throughout his time at the lectern, the president leaned in and whispered into the microphone for dramatic effect. "I wrote the bill on the environment," Biden said in response to a question, again with the dramatic whisper for effect.
PoliticsNational ReviewJustice Department Sues Georgia over Election Integrity Law
The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday against the state of Georgia over its new election integrity law, alleging that it is discriminatory and aims to restrict citizens from voting. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, announced the suit, which alleges that the Georgia law discriminates against black voters. “The rights of all eligible citizens to vote are the central pillars of our democracy,” Garland said at a press conference at the Justice Department.
PoliticsThe WeekThe Trump Organization could reportedly face criminal charges 'as soon as next week'
Possible charges against the Trump Organization could reportedly be announced in just a matter of days. On Friday, The New York Times reported that the Manhattan district attorney's office informed former President Donald Trump's lawyers it's considering criminal charges against his business, the Trump Organization, related to "fringe benefits the company awarded a top executive," Allen Weisselberg. "If the case moves ahead," the Times writes, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. could announce the charges "as soon as next week."
U.S.Washington ExaminerUniversity warns against using 'oppressive' language such as ‘picnic,' ‘killing it,’ 'rule of thumb,' and ‘walk-in’
The phrase “killing it,” for example, is language Brandeis University wants people to stop using. The list is divided into five categories: violent language, identity-based language, language that doesn't say what we mean, culturally appropriative language, and person-first alternatives. “Take a shot/stab at,” “trigger warning,” and “go off the reservation” are all on the “violent language” list because they “needlessly use imagery of hurting someone or something.”
PoliticsWashington ExaminerHarris forced to remind Biden to talk about deadly Miami apartment collapse
Vice President Kamala Harris had to remind President Joe Biden at the White House Thursday to talk about the deadly building collapse in South Florida. Harris whispered, "Florida, yeah," in Biden's ear as he prepared to walk away from his lectern after delivering remarks on the bipartisan infrastructure agreement at the White House. "I've spoken with, coincidentally, the mayor of Miami-Dade, was in my office yesterday — not about that, obviously — but I had a long discussion with her today," Biden stated.
ScienceAxiosUnprecedented heat wave in Pacific Northwest starts roasting the region
The most severe heat wave on record in the Pacific Northwest and southwestern Canada kicks into high gear Friday and will intensify throughout the weekend and into next week. Why it matters: Heat waves like this one are significant public health threats, particularly in areas like the Northwest, where many people lack air conditioning. Extreme heat tends to be the biggest weather-related killer each year in the U.S., outranking even tornadoes and hurricanes.
PoliticsWashington ExaminerHarris bristles at border question, insists it's not her 'first trip'
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday said her visit to the U.S.-Mexico Border is not her "first trip" following backlash that she waited over 90 days to make the trek since she was tapped as immigration czar. Harris earlier in the month took a trip to Guatemala to discover the "root causes of migration" for her first international visit since she assumed office on Jan. 20. “Being in Guatemala, being in Mexico, talking with Mexico, frankly, as a partner on the issue, was about addressing the causes and then coming to the border, at the advice and the indication of the congresswoman, is about looking at the effects of what we have seen happening in Central America," Harris said, adding that she's "glad to be" at the border and that "it was always the plan" to arrive.
U.S.Washington ExaminerTeacher goes viral for lamenting she can't teach critical race theory but is required to say Pledge of Allegiance
An Iowa teacher has gone viral after posting a series of TikTok videos where she slammed the state's recent ban on teaching critical race theory. My governor has put into place some ridiculous legislation that many governors across the country have put into place, such as I can't teach anything divisive, I can't teach critical race theory, and I can't teach about racial equity,” Megan Geha, a special education teacher at Des Moines East High School, said in one of the videos. In subsequent videos, Geha complained that she, as a teacher, can no longer be an activist like she could “in the past.
PoliticsUSA TODAY‘Trump Train’ drivers who tried to run Biden bus off road sued under KKK Act
Days before the 2020 election, a bus transporting a team of President Joe Biden's campaign staff to an event in Texas was nearly run off the road by a barrage of vehicles toting Trump flags. Now, two lawsuits have been filed in relation to the incident — one against the Trump supporting drivers, dubbed the 'Trump Train,' and another against law enforcement who “turned a blind eye.” “When members of the 'Trump Train' surrounded us on the highway and started harassing and threatening us, we were terrified,” said bus driver and plaintiff Timothy Holloway in a press release.
U.S.Washington ExaminerClarence Thomas joins liberal justices in dissent against class action lawsuit limitations
Justice Clarence Thomas led the Supreme Court's liberals in dissent against a decision limiting the standing of the majority of people in a high-profile class-action lawsuit on Friday. Thomas, along with Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, pushed back against the conservative bloc of the court, led by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The decision marked a rare aberration for Thomas, who generally votes with conservatives in divisive cases.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverPrincipal cut off valedictorian’s grad speech on LGBTQ identity. So he did it by memory
The valedictorian of a New Jersey high school said administrators tried to censor his graduation speech on mental health and his LGBTQ identity. But to the cheers of his classmates at Eastern Regional High School, Bryce Dershem continued with his speech — even after the principal took away his prepared remarks. After I came out as queer freshman year, I felt so alone.
PoliticsThe WeekThe left is anti-anti-Critical Race Theory
That question has cropped into my head many times in recent weeks, as conservative activists and Republicans in Congress have actively denounced and in some cases acted to ban the teaching of what they call Critical Race Theory in public schools (both K-12 and universities) — and many of the left's most intelligent writers have responded almost exclusively by railing against right-wing critics of CRT. Put in slightly more schematic terms, the left is reacting to the anti-CRT movement by becoming loudly anti-anti-CRT. That is a big mistake, both intellectually and politically.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderLindsey Graham accuses Biden of making the GOP 'look like a f---ing idiot' after he tied a bipartisan infrastructure deal to a larger spending package
Graham blasted Biden for tying a bipartisan infrastructure deal to a larger spending package. "That's extortion!" Graham told Politico hours after Biden announced Thursday's bipartisan deal. Top Democrats hope to pass a massive infrastructure plan through the reconciliation process.
HealthLA TimesNearly 5 out of 6 coronavirus cases were undetected in pandemic's early months
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health who studied blood samples from across the United States have discovered that for every coronavirus infection recorded during the spring and summer of 2020, nearly five more went undetected — amounting to nearly 17 million additional cases by July 2020. The discovery, published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine, reveals that the coronavirus was far more widespread in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic than previously thought, and could help scientists and health officials better respond to future outbreaks. At the beginning of the pandemic, experts realized many infections were slipping under the radar.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
Texas governor plans to resume construction of Trump's border wall with or without President Biden's help
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced this month that his state would provide a $250 million "down payment" to begin construction on a border wall between Texas and Mexico. But critics question whether states have the authority to act on immigration, a responsibility they claim falls to the federal government.
U.S.INSIDERThe collapsed Florida condo was part of a 2015 lawsuit where a resident complained the outer walls weren't being properly maintained
Champlain Towers in Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed on Thursday, killing at least one. A resident of the Florida condominium that partially collapsed early Thursday filed a lawsuit in 2015 alleging that one of the building's outer walls was not being maintained properly, court records seen by Insider showed. As of Friday morning, rescue workers were still searching for 99 people who remain unaccounted for in the massive collapse of a section of Champlain Towers, at 8777 Collins Avenue in Surfside.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams the lack of diversity in an all-white group of lawmakers who drafted a bipartisan infrastructure deal
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the bipartisan group of lawmakers who negotiated an infrastructure deal. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that the group reached a deal. The New York lawmaker called out the group for its lack of diversity.
U.S.Lexington Herald-Leader‘They will spend money.’ Climbers bring millions to renowned Kentucky area.
The economic impact of rock climbers visiting the Red River Gorge has increased significantly in recent years, according to a study released this week. There are several factors at work in the increased spending, including the growth of available Airbnb units around the gorge, expanded legal alcohol sales, the growing popularity of outdoor recreation and access to more climbing routes, said James N. Maples, a professor of sociology at Eastern Kentucky University and director of the Division of Regional Economic Assessment and Modeling. “It increases every single year,” Maples said of the number of climber visits.
- U.S.Tribune Publishing
Judge tosses woman's blood-alcohol test in I-75 wrong-way crash that killed Mason family
A Montgomery County judge will not allow blood-alcohol results presented as evidence against a driver charged with murder in the wrong-way Interstate 75 crash on St. Patrick's Day 2019 that killed a Mason family of three. Abby Marie Michaels, 23, is scheduled to go to trial Feb. 28, 2022, in Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Steven Dankof's courtroom. She was indicted in July 2019 for six counts of murder, six counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol in the March 17 crash that killed Tommy and Karen Thompson and their 10-year-old daughter, Tessa.
U.S.TheGrioGeorge Floyd statues in Brooklyn, Newark vandalized day before Chauvin sentencing
The Newark defacing of a Floyd statue was found just before 6 a.m. Thursday, and the vandalism in Brooklyn was discovered at 7:20 a.m. Statues of George Floyd in Brooklyn, New York and Newark, New Jersey were both defaced the day before the sentencing of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty of murdering Floyd in April. According to a local report, the Brooklyn statue of Floyd's face and the pedestal on which it stands were both spray-painted black, and the words “PatriotFront.Us” were stenciled on it, sprayed in white.
U.S.INSIDERVideo shows concrete raining down inside an apartment at the Florida condo moments before it collapsed
A large section of a Miami apartment building collapsed early on Thursday morning. At least one person is dead, with more feared dead as 99 people are missing. Footage from inside a Florida apartment shows concrete falling from the ceiling moments before the building partially collapsed.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRudy Giuliani says he was suspended from practicing law in New York because he was so effective at arguing Trump's election-fraud claims
Rudy Giuliani appeared on Newsmax Thursday to discuss the suspension of his New York legal license. Rudy Giuliani has claimed that the suspension of his license to practice law in New York was part of a plot to silence him because he was so effective at arguing former President Donald Trump's election-fraud claims. Giuliani appeared on the right-wing Newsmax network hours after an appelate court in New York suspended his law license on Thursday.
BusinessBBCAfricrypt brothers deny involvement in Bitcoin 'heist'
A lawyer for two brothers who founded a South African Bitcoin investment firm has told the BBC they categorically deny any involvement in a "heist". Africrypt, founded by Raees and Ameer Cajee, "absconded" with Bitcoin then valued at about £2.6bn ($3.6bn), according to a complaint to police. A law firm - Hanekom Attorneys - made the complaint in April on behalf of a group of investors.
U.S.INSIDERVideo captures the moment a high-rise condo building partially collapsed in Surfside, Florida
Video captured the moment a wing of a high-rise condo in Florida collapsed on Thursday. Shocking footage captured the moment a wing of a high-rise condo in Florida collapsed on Thursday. Video posted to Twitter by Andy Slater, a Fox Sports 640 radio host, reportedly shows part of the 12-story oceanfront Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside suddenly plummet to the ground at around 1:30 a.m.
U.S.Business Insider2 years before his death, John McAfee posted a tweet saying, 'If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd.'
In 2019, John McAfee tweeted that if he were to appear to die by suicide it would not be true. McAfee had also tweeted several times about Jeffrey Epstein's death, claiming it was not a suicide. After McAfee's death in jail on Wednesday, the old tweet was shared widely, fueling speculation.
“The pandemic has unequivocally proven the public health value of masks. And they should stick around in certain situations.”
“With the steady thrum of anti-mask sentiment in the U.S., it’s highly unlikely that they will continue to be a ubiquitous sight.”
“Wearing masks on airplanes or other modes of transit ... can help keep everyone safe.”
“Just because masks are common in many other nations ... is hardly a reason to emulate the practice.”
“The fact that the flu all but vanished ... is not evidence alone that masks were responsible.”