PoliticsNBC NewsThree numbers tell the tale of the upcoming California recall
With the California gubernatorial recall 43 days away and with ballots about to be mailed to voters later this month, there are three numbers you need to know to understand this race. 36 percent: That's the percentage of registered voters in California who said they'd vote to support the recall of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, per last week's LA Times/Berkeley IGS poll. If that 36 percent looks familiar, well, it's the exact same percentage of registered voters who backed the recall in April and January, per the same poll, suggesting a limited ceiling of recall supporters in the state.
PoliticsWashington ExaminerMcCarthy faces calls to resign over alleged joke about hitting Pelosi with gavel
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is facing several calls by Democrats to resign after reports surfaced that he joked about hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a gavel. On Saturday night, McCarthy was reportedly gifted a large gavel by members of Tennessee's Republican congressional delegation during a dinner event. The gavel had the words "Fire Pelosi" inscribed on it, referencing the minority leader's repeated optimistic stance that the GOP will retake the House following the 2022 midterm elections.
PoliticsAxiosManchin, Collins say infrastructure bill has enough GOP support to pass Senate
Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) said they believe that the massive infrastructure bill has enough support to pass in the Senate, with Manchin saying the chamber should "finish up" by Thursday. Why it matters: A bipartisan group of senators, including Manchin and Collins, have been negotiating the deal for months and are cutting it close to their self-imposed deadline for passing the measure before August recess. Appearing on on CNN's "State of the Union," Manchin expressed optimism, saying, "When you see Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell voting for the same thing, it's unbelievable."
LifestyleArchitectural DigestThe 6 Best Oven Ranges Designers Often Choose for Kitchen Renovations
Gas or induction? Compact or dual oven? Designers help navigate the world of ranges Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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All eyes are on Ohio special election following loss by Trump-backed candidate in Texas
As soon as it became clear last week that a Texas congressional candidate backed by Donald Trump would be defeated in a special election, the former president's allies quickly shifted their attention to Ohio to ward off another embarrassing loss.
U.S.Associated PressFlood watches in US West as mudslides close major interstate
Mudslides from heavy rains caused "extreme damage” to a major interstate and left it blocked with piles of boulders and logs, Colorado transportation officials said Sunday, as forecasters warned of more flash floods in the coming days across the Rocky Mountain and Great Basin regions. The flood risk was elevated for many areas of the West where recent wildfires burned away vegetation and left hillsides more susceptible to erosion, the National Weather Service said. Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado, was closed with no word on when it might re-open after being pounded by flash floods over a three-day period.
U.S.Charlotte ObserverDeadly shooting at water park followed an escalating ‘altercation,’ Tennessee cops say
One woman is dead and another injured after gunfire erupted outside a Tennessee water park over the weekend, officials said. The shooting followed an escalating “altercation” at Soaky Mountain Waterpark in Sevierville, according to a preliminary police investigation. The 50-acre tourist attraction is near the vacation destinations of Gatlinburg and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
WorldWashington ExaminerTaliban fighters strike airport in southern Afghanistan
Taliban forces attacked the Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan with at least three rockets overnight, a spokesman for the insurgent group said Sunday. The goal of the rocket strike was to obstruct airstrikes stemming from Afghan government forces, the Taliban said. "Kandahar airport was targeted by us because the enemy were using it as a center to conduct airstrikes against us," said Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, according to Reuters.
HealthThe WeekFauci: 'I don't think we're going to see lockdowns' with the Delta variant surge, but more 'pain and suffering' is likely
COVID-19 cases are rising sharply in the U.S., thanks to the more easily transmissible Delta variant, but while many Americans may have to mask up again, "I don't think we're going to see lockdowns," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top federal infectious disease expert, said on Sunday's ABC This Week. "We're looking, not, I believe, to lockdown, but we're looking to some pain and suffering in the future because we're seeing the cases go up, which is the reason why we keep saying over and over again, the solution to this is get vaccinated and this would not be happening." Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Biden, said "we are seeing an outbreak of the unvaccinated" now, adding that "from the standpoint of illness, hospitalization, suffering, and death, the unvaccinated are much more vulnerable."
WorldBBCNigerian student shocked to see friend's body in anatomy class
In our series of letters from African writers, Nigerian journalist and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani writes about the disturbing reality behind some of the "unclaimed" bodies sent to the country's medical schools. Medical student Enya Egbe fled his anatomy class crying after being disturbed by the corpse he was asked to work on. The 26-year-old still vividly recalls that Thursday afternoon seven years ago at Nigeria's University of Calabar, converging with fellow students around three tables with a cadaver laid out on each.
WorldAssociated PressAfghan president seeks defense of cities as Taliban advance
The Afghan president on Monday blamed the American troops' speedy pullout for the worsening violence in his country and said that his administration would now focus on protecting provincial capitals and major urban areas in the face of the rapidly advancing Taliban. Ashraf Ghani also urged lawmakers to back a national mobilization drive against the Taliban amid an intensifying war between the Taliban and Afghan government forces over the past few months as U.S. and NATO troops complete their pullout from the war-torn country. “An imported, hasty” peace process — a reference to Washington's push for negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban — “not only failed to bring peace but created doubt and ambiguity" among Afghans, Ghani said in his address to Parliament.
PoliticsWashington ExaminerSenators reveal bill text and introduce $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal after rare weekend session
It's no longer a framework: Senators on Sunday evening revealed and introduced legislative text for a bipartisan infrastructure deal crafted after months of negotiations among a bipartisan group of lawmakers. "This legislation represents the most significant investment in our infrastructure since the construction of the Interstate Highway System," Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said on the Senate floor on Sunday. Finalized during a rare weekend session, the legislation, which is called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, clocks in at 2,702 pages.
CelebrityThe WeekYou're paying Obama to party like a rockstar
Over the weekend, former President Barack Obama announced plans for a lavish birthday party at his Martha's Vineyard estate. The bash will attract around 500 guests, to be entertained by the rock band Pearl Jam, and served by a staff of 200. Obama is just the most recent president who adopted a plutocratic lifestyle after leaving office, partly at public expense.
WorldLA TimesAs water table lowers, Tehran and much of Iran are slowly sinking
Officials and outside experts have long linked subsidence in Tehran to over-extraction of groundwater, with the falling water levels causing the soil to shift and settle in many neighborhoods and at the airport. "The disaster is rooted in the fact that 4 billion cubic meters of water are annually extracted from 50,000 wells, a third of which are illegal," Mohsen Tabatabei, an official with the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, told local reporters in June. We're seeing it [subsidence] in 30 out of the 31 provinces.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramNow the ‘Stop the Steal’ crowd is complaining about the Fort Worth city election
Now we know more about who was behind those sneaky postcards asking Fort Worth voters to log into a website and “verify” our votes. Unable to sell fake “Stop the Steal” political silliness to much of America, allies of the Michael Flynn-Sidney Powell stolen-election circus here now want to investigate Tarrant County and Fort Worth elections. Just because a record 87,000 people voted June 5 in a $3 million Fort Worth mayor's race that was intensely partisan and personal, a handful of activists are claiming the numbers were suspiciously high and the results need to be reviewed.
PoliticsThe WeekWhy Alexander Vindman had an inkling Trump's infamous Ukraine call would go 'haywire' before it took place
Retired Lt. Col. Vindman had a bad feeling about former President Donald Trump's infamous 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before it even took place, he reveals in his new book Here, Right Matters: An American Story, an excerpt of which was published by The Atlantic. Vindman writes that while he was making his way to the White House alongside Tim Morrison, who was then serving as the National Security Council's senior director for Europe and Russia (Vindman, at the time, was the NSC's director for European Affairs), he suggested it would be a good idea to get White House lawyers involved on the call. Two things had spooked Vindman in the days leading up to the exchange — first, then-U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland had proposed multiple times that if Zelensky pursued Ukraine-related investigations of then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, he would be rewarded with a White House visit.
PoliticsThe Guardian‘A one-man scam Pac’: Trump’s money hustling tricks prompt fresh scrutiny
Donald Trump's penchant for turning his political and legal troubles into fundraising schemes has long been recognized, but the former US president's money hustling tricks seem to have expanded since his defeat by Joe Biden, prompting new scrutiny and criticism from campaign finance watchdogs and legal analysts. Critics note Trump has built an arsenal of political committees and nonprofit groups, staffed with dozens of ex-administration officials and loyalists, which seem aimed at sustaining his political hopes for a comeback, and exacting revenge on Republican congressional critics. Just days after his defeat last November, Trump launched a new political action committee, dubbed Save America, that together with his campaign and the Republican National Committee quickly raked in tens of millions of dollars through text and email appeals for a Trump “election defense fund”, ostensibly to fight the results with baseless lawsuits alleging fraud.
LifestyleTODAYHow to properly season steak: Tips from a professional chef
This largely depends on the thickness of the steak, but you want the salt to season inside the meat — not just on the surface! Let it rest after cooking: This will allow the steak juices to redistribute throughout the meat. If you rush the resting process, you lose the juices to your plate when slicing into it.
PoliticsAssociated Press'Vote them out': Willie Nelson headlines Texas protest rally
Country music legend Willie Nelson led more than a thousand spectators in singing “vote them out” Saturday from the steps of the Texas Capitol during a rally wrapping up a four-day march in support of Democratic state legislators who bolted for Washington two weeks ago to block GOP-backed voting restrictions. Families with lawn chairs spread out across the sprawling Capitol greens in Austin. Clergy, politicians, constituents and musicians all spoke out about the proposals to impose voter ID requirements, limit ballot drop boxes and mail voting, and strip local officials of their election authority.
WorldUSA TODAYDeath toll triples to more than 300 in recent China flooding
More than 300 people died in recent flooding in central China, authorities said Monday, three times the previously announced toll. The Henan provincial government said 302 people died and 50 remain missing. The vast majority of the victims were in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, where 292 died and 47 are missing.
PoliticsThe GuardianWant to make Jim Jordan sing about the Capitol attack? Ask Jefferson Davis
The House select committee on the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol, according to chairman Bennie Thompson, should “not be reluctant” to include on its witness list Republicans including the minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan and others who have knowledge of or may have been implicated in the attack.
U.S.INSIDERTennessee GOP rep who rejected masks now says COVID-19 is 'real and dangerous' after his 8-month battle with the virus
Tennessee representative David Byrd used to support the idea that the media was sensationalizing the COVID-19 pandemic. In his 8-month battle with the virus, he developed pneumonia, jaundice, and liver failure. Tennessee GOP Rep. David Byrd is urging the public to take COVID-19 seriously and get vaccinated after his 8-month struggle with the virus, which saw him hospitalized and put under a ventilator for 55 days.
WorldNBC NewsJapan shelters Belarusian sprinter who sought to flee at the Olympics
A Belarusian sprinter brought under the protection of Japanese authorities on Monday after making a dash for freedom at a Tokyo-area airport is reportedly heading to Poland. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who said her team was forcing her to return home after she publicly criticized her coaches at the Olympics, plans to seek asylum in Poland, an activist group supporting the athlete told The Associated Press. Tsimanouskaya had sought the protection of Japanese police at Haneda Airport on Sunday after she refused to board a flight to Minsk, the International Olympic Committee and Japanese authorities confirmed.
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EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says new lawsuit would open door to run for office
Nearly a year and a half after the former Illinois governor was freed from federal prison after serving eight years for corruption he wants the door re-opened to run for statewide office again.
WorldThe Daily BeastHere’s Why China Could Be Sucked Into the ‘Graveyard of Empires’
Of course, the U.S. government is not actually pulling out of Afghanistan to make way for China or to lure it into a trap. Quite the contrary, one U.S. official with whom I spoke said the U.S. would monitor China's involvement closely and that it might someday become a potential source of concern should China's role become “overlarge. When it comes to Afghanistan's history as “the graveyard of empires,” China may think they know better than us how to avoid the country's pitfalls.
“[The program] stands likely to leave millions of families — disproportionately the poorest and most fragile ones — behind.”
“[Paying] families monthly, instead of one lump sum ... will provide parents with more stability knowing when cash is coming.”
“More parents will disappear from the workforce, and more children will be locked into dependency.”
“Poverty is a political choice, not an inevitability.”
“Time is running out. There are only six months until monthly payments of the credit cease."