U.S.CBS NewsACLU arm publishes database tracking fatal encounters with CBP
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas has identified 177 fatal encounters with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel dating back to January 2010 – including 34 deaths in custody. A new database launched Friday by the non-profit organization tracks fatal encounters with CBP officials, including U.S. Border Patrol agents. The agency, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), doesn't publicly release data on fatal encounters or "use of force" incidents, unlike other its law enforcement counterparts.
PoliticsThe WeekTed Cruz, in a Captain Morgan pose, once reportedly finished 3 beers 'in a matter of minutes' on Joe Manchin's houseboat
For example, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), while resting one foot atop a chair à la Captain Morgan, is reported to have once downed three beers "in a matter of minutes" while fraternizing with former senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, one of his "most liberal colleagues," per The Washington Post. Said former senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska), who was apparently awe-struck watching the moment: "[Cruz] was drinking those beers like water." And on the party deck punctuated by wrought-iron chairs and tables with umbrellas, colleagues who clash on the hill are seen sharing pizza and pasta platters, sipping on moonshine, and singing and dancing to music like "SOB" by Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, a re...
LifestyleBusiness InsiderI provide security for rich people on vacation. As a former Navy SEAL, I'm trained to do just about anything my clients need.
Mike (not his real name), 40, is a former Navy SEAL whose company provides security for wealthy clients' vacations. Mike's team inspects ports and yachts, finds secure restaurants, and runs background checks on local staff. Here's what his job is like, as told to freelance writer Claire Turrell.
- EntertainmentChicago Tribune
‘Mr. Corman’ review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a struggling musician-turned-teacher whose mid-life crisis comes a few years early
But you sense the wince in there, because Mr. Corman — sorry, it's Josh when he's not in the classroom — maybe wonders if that describes his failed music career. Is he actually any good? I have no idea; the music we hear him play at home doesn't make an impact.
- HealthFox News
Cholesterol drug cuts coronavirus infection by 70%, researchers find
A drug meant to treat cholesterol was found to reduce coronavirus infection by 70% in lab studies, with researchers calling for additional clinical trials among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. A team of researchers from the U.K. and Italy published findings in the Frontiers in Pharmacology journal Friday, finding that fenofibrate and fenofibric acid resulted in a significant reduction in coronavirus infection in human cells when the drug was used in safe and approved concentrations, according to a news release posted Friday. "Our data indicates that fenofibrate may have the potential to reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and also virus spread," Dr. Elisa Vicenzi of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan and co-author, said in the release.
WorldINSIDERPolice arrest a woman in China who they say used her medical-technology company as a front for buying and selling babies
The head of a medical company in China is accused of running a child-trafficking business. A medical tech company in east China is under investigation on suspicion that it's a front for an illegal baby-trafficking business, the city of Weifang's Public Security Bureau said. Local police arrested the company's head on Monday after anti-trafficking advocate Shangguan Zhengyi conducted a sting operation with the help of Xia Ruchu from The Paper, a Shanghai news outlet.
BusinessBusiness InsiderBig Tech salaries revealed: How much engineers, developers, and product managers make at companies including Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Uber, IBM, and Salesforce
So, to get a sense of what salaries in the industry are like these days, Business Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's disclosure data for permanent and temporary foreign workers to find out what companies pay employees in key roles, including engineers, designers, and salespeople. When you're done checking out this industry data, take a look at Insider's searchable database of over 250,000 salaries from more than 250 companies so you can know how much you should be paid. Google's software engineers can make more than $300,000.
- SportsUSA TODAY
Olympians arrive home to a hero's welcome
Olympians from across the globe are greeted with adoring fans and proud countries.
SportsCharlotte ObserverPanthers have found the missing piece to their offense. Get used to hearing this name.
It's a tongue-twister, but one that Carolina Panther fans may as well get used to saying: Darnold to Arnold. New Panther quarterback Sam Darnold has already found a third-down security blanket in this training camp in Dan Arnold — a rangy, 6-foot-6 tight end who was once a skinny Division III wide receiver from Wisconsin-Platteville. Dan Arnold isn't a familiar name to Panther fans yet.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRupert Murdoch hates Trump, but can't stop Trumpism on Fox News because he's lost control of the network, Murdoch biographer says in The 600-Word Interview
Your book makes it clear that Rupert Murdoch despises Donald Trump. This is surprising given how much his network, Fox News, helps the former president. Why does he allow that to continue?
U.S.The New York TimesTexas High School Principal Sees Racism in Calls to Remove Intimate Photos
In June 2019, shortly after James Whitfield, a Black educator, was hired as the principal of a middle school in Colleyville, Texas, an administrator with the school district called and asked him to take down photos on Facebook that showed him and his wife, who is white, embracing intimately on a beach. Puzzled why someone had dug up 10-year-old images of the couple celebrating their anniversary in Mexico, Whitfield nonetheless complied by changing the settings to “Only Me.” But the photos have now resurfaced amid a controversy over racism that erupted in the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District after Whitfield on Saturday wrote a Facebook post about the request. When Whitfield, 43, asked in 2019 what was wrong with the photos, “The response was 'nothing,'” he recalled in an interview Wednesday.
U.S.INSIDERA North Carolina man built a 13-foot skeleton in his front yard warning his unvaccinated neighbors: 'Not vaccinated, see you soon, idiots!'
Raleigh homeowner Jesse Jones put up a 13-foot-tall skeleton in his front yard to show what happens to the unvaccinated. Jones' skeleton bears a sign reading "Not vaccinated, see you soon idiots!" slung around its pelvis. Jones told the Raleigh News and Observer that he got the skeleton at Home Depot.
WorldBusiness InsiderIsrael vaccinated fast and looked like it had beaten COVID-19. It just brought back a swathe of restrictions amid a Delta surge.
Daily new cases rose to 3,260 on Tuesday, according to The Times of Israel - the country's highest level of new cases since March. Ministers on Tuesday approved rules that require mask-wearing at outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people. Close contact such as hugging and kissing and indoor socializing is discouraged, the paper reported.
U.S.Associated PressMore oil shipped as Dakota Access Pipeline expansion starts
More oil is being shipped through the Dakota Access Pipeline to the dismay of opponents who say the line expansion should not have gone into service before an environmental study has been completed. Energy Transfer executives said during a quarterly earnings call this week that the line can now transport 750,000 barrels of oil daily, which is 180,000 more than before. Energy Transfer is adding pump stations to boost the pipeline's horsepower, and said once the full expansion is up and running, as much as 1.1 million barrels of oil will flow through the pipeline each day.
SportsAxiosCanada beats Sweden in penalty shootout, winning first Olympic gold in women's soccer
Canada beat Sweden on Friday in a thrilling penalty kick shootout to win Olympic gold in the women's soccer final at the Tokyo Olympics. The big picture: It's Canada's first-ever Olympic gold in women's soccer. It was also the first time a penalty shootout determined a women's soccer Olympic gold medal match.
EntertainmentThe ConversationThe deep influence of the A-bomb on anime and manga
The finale of Akira is only one example of apocalyptic imagery in the anime and manga canon; a number of anime films and comics are rife with atomic bomb references, which appear in any number of forms, from the symbolic to the literal. The devastating aftereffects – orphaned kids, radiation sickness, a loss of national independence, the destruction of nature – would also influence the genre, giving rise to a unique (and arguably incomparable) form of comics and animated film. The directors and artists who witnessed the devastation firsthand were at the forefront of this movement.
U.S.INSIDERA woman says she was told to wait outside a car-inspection station because her shirt was 'inappropriate'
Tia Wood said on TikTok that she was asked to wait outside a car-inspection station over her outfit. A TikTok user named Tia Wood said she was told to wait outside a car-inspection station in Lakewood, New Jersey, because her outfit was "inappropriate." In a TikTok video posted on July 20, Wood is seen wearing a crop top, denim shorts, and white sneakers.
BusinessBusiness InsiderSpirit employee describes working amid the airline's hellish meltdown, with crying crew members, screaming customers, and desperate families stranded with young children
Spirit Airlines canceled over one thousand flights this week in six straight days of disruptions. When Spirit Airlines employees walked into work on Sunday, airports across the country were in utter chaos. Customers were screaming and crying, demanding to know why hundreds of flights were being canceled.
- SportsJournal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
UConn hoping to get more from Mensah
Aug. 6—STORRS — Kevin Mensah is all over the UConn football team's record book. The five touchdowns he scored against UMass in a 2019 game were one shy of the school-record six Walt Trojanowski had against Worcester Tech in 1945. In fact, Edsall admits he had actually been hoping for more from Mensah, though that has nothing to with his back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
PoliticsAxiosRep. Conor Lamb announces run for Senate seat in Pennsylvania
Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) announced Friday that he'll join the Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania currently held by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who plans to retire. Why it matters: The centrist Lamb, 37, joins a crowded field in a state that's critical for Democrats' chances of retaining control of the Senate. Lamb first rose to prominence when he narrowly won a 2018 House special election in a Pittsburgh-area seat that Donald Trump carried by nearly 20 points in 2016.
EntertainmentINSIDERTHEN AND NOW: The cast of 'The Outsiders,' 38 years later
S. E. Hinton's novel "The Outsiders" was adapted into a 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. C. Thomas Howell played the sensitive Ponyboy Curtis, the main character of the novel and the film. Howell was 16 years old while filming "The Outsiders," which was only his second role ever — he had a brief part in 1982's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."
BusinessBusiness InsiderObama picks a meat-free menu for his 60th birthday party, serving Eat Just and Impossible's plant-based food, a report says
Former President Barack Obama has picked a meat-free menu for his birthday party, a report says. Dishes include Spam Musubi made with Impossible Foods' fake beef and pork products, per Bloomberg. Obama is holding his scaled-down 60th birthday party this weekend in Martha's Vineyard.
SportsAssociated PressItaly again! Jacobs backs up 100-meter shock with relay gold
Another came when Sifan Hassan abandoned her tried and tested race tactics and faded for bronze in the 1,500 meters — the first race out of five at these Games that she hasn't won. Faith Kipyegon of Kenya successfully defended her Olympic title in a Games record after overtaking Hassan. One thing that wasn't a surprise: The Jamaican women's 4x100-meter team — made up of the three fastest women in the world at these Games — went blazing away for gold.
U.S.The WeekHow American Jews lost by winning
As a small but hugely influential group defined by a combination of religious, ethnic, and cultural characteristics, American Jews can be seen as successors to the WASPs of the 20th century (the subject of my last column). The upward mobility of the descendants of most Ashkenazi immigrants in the late 19th Century came at a cost, though. Jews moved smoothly into positions opened to meritocratic competition, but gradually lost the vitality that fueled their success.
U.S.AxiosThe Dixie Fire is now the 3rd largest wildfire in California history
Wildfires are expanding in Northern California after destroying communities nestled in the Sierras on Wednesday night and Thursday, with the Dixie Fire now ranking as the third largest blaze in state history. Why it matters: Yet again, California is giving the country a lesson in what climate change looks like after just 1.2°C (2.16°F) of global warming. The West is in the midst of a brutally hot and severe drought, and fires are burning in areas where wildfire risk indices are off the charts -- and peak fire season doesn't arrive for another month.
“If nothing else, Tokyo 2020 may end up being remembered as the wake-up call everyone needed.”
“Cancel the Olympics—for good.”
“Olympians haven’t really changed. These athletes still showcase extraordinary human achievement from around the world.”
“Delivering more excellence and less sideshow will probably require giving athletes a bigger voice in how the Olympics are run.”
“The Olympics were conceived in 1896 as a sporting event, and they’ve become a construction event.”