Ben Shapiro Embarrasses Himself on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’

On Friday night, two of the country's foremost Islamophobes sat across from one another on HBO to debate the issues of the day. In one corner was Bill Maher, a self-professed liberal who spends 90 percent of his Real Time show railing against Muslims, platforming conspiracy theorists and/or white nationalist trolls, and whining about “cancel culture. The other had Ben Shapiro, the Daily Wire co-founder who, when he's not being an outrageous hypocrite or distributing films by producers with a long history of overlooking sexual misconduct, spends 90 percent of his time whining about “cancel culture” or “owning the libs” by saying hateful drivel like this: The last time Shapiro visited Maher's ...

Loyola University students win battle over COVID vaccine

Eleven students at Loyola University in Chicago won a victory over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate that is sweeping the country in education, business, and government. Under the rules implemented by the university, students who had not submitted their vaccine card or been granted an exception by Friday, Aug. 6, would not be allowed to enroll in classes or access the campus. Faculty and staff who are not vaccinated by Sept. 21, or submit an exemption, could face disciplinary action, including termination, the university states.

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  Factbox-COVID-19 and the U.S. courts: challenges to vaccine requirements

  Reuters
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  Indiana University students urge Supreme Court to block vaccine mandate

  Reuters

A man who hit a flight attendant after being asked to wear a face mask was arrested in Florida, police say

The passenger was apparently asked to wear a face mask when the incident occurred, say reports. Authorities told the Pensacola News Journal that he was charged with battery and resisting arrest. A 70-year old man was arrested in Florida after striking a flight attendant on a plane when he was asked to wear a face mask, according to police.

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  Where to Buy a Face Mask Right Now

  Esquire
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  20 great face masks kids will actually want to wear

  USA TODAY

The lawyer who was pardoned for pointing a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis is suing to get his firearms back

The St. Louis couple who brandished guns at BLM protesters last summer are suing for their firearms. Mark and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and surrendered the weapons. Mark McClosky, the St. Louis lawyer who was photographed last summer pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters marching down his private street, filed a lawsuit Wednesday to get his weapons back.

Gang Members Established ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Atlanta, Killed Eight-Year-Old Girl during Police Protest

In the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta, violent gang members laid siege to a local Wendy's to protest his death — establishing an “autonomous zone” with a strict no-trespassing policy for police officers or pedestrians — before shooting and killing an eight-year-old girl, according to a warrant obtained by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Under the guise of protesting police brutality, members of the Bloods street gang established a perimeter around the Wendy's, with armed rogue members declaring control over the territory “brandishing, pointing and discharging of firearms at citizens and civilians to ensure compliance with their authority in a highly visible manner,” according to the arrest warrant for the gang member allegedly responsible for the girl's death.

Sen. Raphael Warnock has spent almost $350,000 of his campaign funds on personal security since taking office: report

Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia has spent $344,531 on personal security this year, according to a Daily Beast analysis of campaign finance data filed with the Federal Election Commission. Rounding out the top 3 were two other freshman senators: Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who spent $247,487 and Sen. Jon Ossoff, who spent $162,107. Kelly's wife, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, nearly died after a 2011 assassination attempt at an event in Tucson, Arizona.

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.

A 100-year-old former Nazi death camp guard, accused of helping to murder over 3,500 people, to go on trial

A 100-year-old former guard at a Nazi concentration camp will stand trial in Germany later this year, public prosecutors have announced. The suspect was allegedly complicit in executions by firing squad and by using Zyklon B, the chemical notoriously used in gas chambers at Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps during World War II, The Guardian said. Around 200,000 people were imprisoned at the Sachsenhausen camp, which is on the outskirts of Berlin, between 1936 and 1945.

The USPS awarded a $120 million contract to a company with financial ties to the postmaster general

The U.S. Postal Service has secured a $120 million, five-year deal with XPO logistics, a major logistics contractor with financial and personal ties to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, The Washington Post reports. The contract, which was awarded in April, will have XPO oversee operations at two "crucial" sorting and distribution facilities in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. The deal was reportedly competitively bid and did not directly involve participation from DeJoy, whose family businesses continue to lease four North Carolina office buildings to XPO, per the Post. The postmaster general also served as XPO's supply chain chief executive from 2014 to 2015, and has divested between "$65.4 million and $155.3 million worth of XPO shares" since taking office.

What happens when you allow hundreds of snake hunters in the Everglades? You get a winner

Gov. Ron DeSantis, in between battling with President Joe Biden about mask mandates, announced that the 2021 Florida Python Challenge has a new king. The 10-day event, from July 9-18, resulted in the removal of a record 223 invasive pythons from South Florida, DeSantis said.

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  DeSantis feuds with Biden White House as COVID cases rise

  Associated Press
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  Joe Biden pokes at Ron DeSantis after Florida criticism: ‘Governor who?’

  The Independent

Rupert 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?

White House walks back Biden's plan to let pandemic unemployment benefits expire in September

The White House has not made a decision on whether the expanded unemployment benefits launched during the pandemic should expire in September, press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday. President Joe Biden previously stated in June that it "makes sense" to let the benefits expire on the current timeline, given the harsh critiques Republicans and some economists had launched against the program over the past year, yet a number of Democratic lawmakers have called for making the pandemic expansions permanent. Later in the briefing, she added that the administration had not seen any "evidence" that states ending expanded unemployment benefits early had any impact on the latest jobs report.

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  7.5M workers face end to pandemic unemployment benefits in September

  Yahoo Finance Video
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  Maine unemployment claims declining

  Washington Examiner

A Russian influencer who drove a Bentley with his girlfriend tied to the roof in a viral video is under investigation, agency says

Influencer Sergey Kosenko is reportedly under investigation by the Moscow Traffic Inspectorate. In an Instagram video, he drove a car while handcuffed to a woman who was tied to the roof. A Russian influencer who tied his girlfriend to the roof of a Bentley for a video is reportedly under investigation by the Moscow State Traffic Inspectorate.

Yeonmi Park says she was robbed by three women, bystanders stopped her from calling police

What happened: Park, 27, recalled the incident in a new interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, which tackled her experiences as a child in North Korea and as a defector in the U.S. She said it occurred during lootings across the city last summer. At this point, the woman allegedly started accusing her of racism and punching her in the chest. The situation became more difficult for Park as bystanders -- whom she identified as white people -- gathered around the scene and allegedly prevented her from phoning law enforcement.

The 'runaway bride' who once faked her own kidnapping to get out of a wedding is now divorced

Jennifer Wilbanks went missing three days before her wedding in 2005. After first claiming she had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted, she admitted she had run away. Sixteen years later, Wilbanks got divorced from a different man.

'You are not a chick': Video shows argument between trans councilwoman and store owner over anti-transgender sign

A Star Wars shop owner in Washington doesn't "give a s***" about feelings anymore after a confrontation with a transgender councilwoman. Councilwoman Tiesa Meskis, a biological male who identifies as a woman, confronted Don Sucher over a sign in his store that she said was offensive and anti-trans on Wednesday. “If you are born with a d***, you are not a chick,” read the sign posted at the Sucher & Sons Star Wars Shop.

2 Seattle Police Officers fired after investigation alleges that they trespassed at the US Capitol on January 6

Two Seattle PD officers were fired after being accused of trespassing at the Capitol on January 6. The news comes after a six-months-long internal investigation by the Seattle Police Department. Three other officers were cleared of wrongdoing, and an investigation into another was inconclusive.

Woods returns to NFL with Seahawks after opting out in '20

Defensive tackle Al Woods always intended to continue his NFL career when he joined the small group of players who opted out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Seattle Seahawks feel like they're the beneficiaries of Woods' decision to keep on playing. It was his understanding of that balance that led Woods to step away from the NFL last summer as he was getting ready to start a season with Jacksonville after spending 2019 with Seattle.

There's a religious revival going on in China -- under the constant watch of the Communist Party

The Chinese Communist Party is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1921. For most of those decades, the party sought to restrict or obliterate traditional religious practices, which it considered part of China's “feudal” past. More recently, current Chinese president and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has endorsed continued party tolerance for religion as filling a moral void that has developed amid China's fast-paced economic growth.

A mother got her teenage kids to help clean up the crime scene after she shot and dismembered their stepdad, reports say

Thessalonica Allen, 34, shot her husband and cut his legs off, according to court documents. Allen also asked her children to help clean up the crime scene, ABC 7 reported. Thessalonica Allen is accused of shooting her husband, Randy Allen, inside an apartment in LaPorte, Indiana, after an altercation broke out over the woman's internet history, WCAX 3 reported.

Tucker Carlson did PR for Hungary's authoritarian leader, presenting the country as 'freer' than the US

Tucker Carlson gave Hungary's authoritarian leader a platform to spread his xenophobic views. Carlson presented Hungary as "freer" than the United States. Carlson did not mention how Orbán has shored up control of the country's elections, media, and courts.

‘Psychological child abuse.’ Listen to Rep. Cawthorn slam NC district’s mask mandate

A congressman dropped in on a North Carolina school board meeting — and slammed the district's COVID-19 mask mandate. “Forcing our children to wear a mask is nothing short of psychological child abuse, period,” U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a Republican, told Buncombe County Schools officials on Thursday. The remarks came after leaders in the Asheville-area district voted 4-2 to require unvaccinated students and workers to wear face masks when the school year starts on Aug. 23, WLOS reported.

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  Amazon to mandate masks for all its workers in warehouses

  Associated Press
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  Legislature votes against allowing mask mandates in schools

  Axios

The NRA’s Gun Safety Program for Kids Has Imploded

Everytown and the nonprofit Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety have their own program, called Be SMART, which is aimed at educating families with school-age children about responsible gun ownership. In minutes from several recent board meetings, NRA staffers told board members that Eddie had reached an average of more than a million children per year since its inception. And while this is technically true (32,371,095 averaged over 32 years between 1988 and 2020 yields 1,011,597), a mere 32,000 children were reached by the Eddie Eagle program in 2020, a drop of nearly 95 percent compared to 2019.