- PoliticsThe Guardian
Joe Biden inspires no one – not even his own wife
Much like Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden's Democratic primary campaign has thus far cloaked itself in an aura of inevitability. You might not like Joe Biden. Jill Biden, the former vice-president's wife, made the case bizarrely explicit on MSNBC earlier this week.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Newt Gingrich says slavery needs to be put 'in context,' calls 1619 project a 'lie'
WASHINGTON – Appearing on "Fox and Friends" on Monday morning, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that The New York Times' 1619 Project was "a lie." The 1619 Project is an effort by the Times to commemorate the 400th anniversary of slavery's beginning in America. The 1619 Project aims to "reframe the country's history, [understand] 1619 as our true founding, and [place] the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are."
- NewsAssociated Press
The Latest: Houston police chief supports drug raid charges
Houston's police chief says the arrest of two officers for their roles in a deadly January drug raid that killed a couple shows his agency can hold its own accountable if they do something wrong. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Friday he doesn't believe the actions of ex-officers Gerald Goines and Steven Bryant are indicative of a systematic problem within his agency. Earlier Friday, prosecutors announced they had filed two felony murder counts against Goines and one count of tampering with a government record against Bryant.
WorldAFPRussia launches floating nuclear reactor in Arctic despite warnings
Russia will launch the world's first floating nuclear reactor and send it on an epic journey across the Arctic on Friday, despite environmentalists warning of serious risks to the region. Loaded with nuclear fuel, the Akademik Lomonosov will leave the Arctic port of Murmansk to begin its 5,000 kilometre (3,000-mile) voyage to northeastern Siberia. Nuclear agency Rosatom says the reactor is a simpler alternative to building a conventional plant on ground that is frozen all year round, and it intends to sell such reactors abroad.
- WorldReuters
Hong Kong families form peaceful human chains ahead of airport protest
Thousands of chanting Hong Kong protesters joined hands to form human chains on Friday in a peaceful protest, with almost three months of anti-government demonstrations showing no sign of let-up across the Chinese-ruled territory. Demonstrators, families young and old, some people masked, some using hand wipes to stay clean, linked hands across different districts as others held up banners thanking overseas nations for supporting "freedom and democracy" in Hong Kong. Their move echoed one on Aug. 23, 1989, when an estimated 2 million people joined arms across the three Baltic states in a protest against Soviet rule that became known as the "Baltic Way" or "Baltic Chain".
- LifestyleCar and Driver
2020 Toyota GR Supra vs. 2019 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350: Which Is the Better Driver's Machine?
This is a fight between the 2019 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and the 2020 Toyota GR Supra. Carroll Shelby's first Mustang GT350 was built in 1965, constructed in a small industrial building in Venice, California. Now, with the return of the Supra for 2020—albeit with more than a little help from BMW—these two legends are finally rolling off assembly lines at the same time.
- BusinessNational Review
China Buys American Soybeans after Vowing to Boycott U.S. Farm Products
China purchased a comparatively small amount of U.S. soybeans several days ago after promising to boycott U.S. farm products amid deteriorating trade negotiations with the Trump administration. Beijing reached agreements last week to buy 9,589 metric tons of American soybeans for the current marketing year and 66,000 metric tons for the following year, which starts September 1, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture released Thursday. An August 5 statement from China's Ministry of Commerce said Chinese companies would boycott American farm products in response to the Trump administration's heavy tariffs on Chinese products. In May, the White House upped tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent, claiming Beijing had reneged on the previously agreed terms of a trade deal. The U.S. also currently has a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese high-tech products.
- NewsINSIDER
An innocent man spent months in jail after customs officials thought honey he brought back from Jamaica was liquid meth
Leon Haughton told The Washington Post that he was stopped at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on December 29. Haughton, a Jamaican native and green card holder with no prior convictions, told The Post that this was the first time he had been stopped by customs in the 10 years he had been traveling back and forth to visit his mother. A Maryland man spent nearly three months in jail after US Customs and Border Protection agents at Baltimore's airport thought honey he had brought back from a trip to Jamaica was liquid meth.
- WorldBloomberg
Modi Ally Calls for Boycott of China Companies on Kashmir, Trade
Indians should stop buying from Chinese companies and the government should reconsider trade concessions to its biggest neighbor after China allied with Pakistan on Kashmir, according to an economic policy group linked with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Companies like technology giant Huawei Technologies Co. should be barred from accessing the Indian market in the future and Chinese companies should be banned from state tenders, Ashwani Mahajan, co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, affiliated to the ruling party's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh said in an interview Thursday.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
L.L. Bean's Huge End-of-Summer Sale Is Taking Up to 70% Off
Gear up for colder weather with jackets, fleece sweaters, boots, and more. From Popular Mechanics
- NewsThe Guardian
Governor criticized for 'disgusting' anti-immigrant email sent day before El Paso attack
The day before a gunman in El Paso carried out the deadliest attack against Latinos in modern US history, the Texas governor sent out an anti-immigrant fundraising letter calling on Republicans to “DEFEND TEXAS NOW” and “take matters into our own hands”, according to news reports. The 2 August letter from the governor, Greg Abbott, lamented that in “just three weeks in June, 45,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended crossing the Mexican border into Texas!” It continued: “That amounts to the entire population of Galveston – every three weeks. “If we're going to DEFEND Texas, we'll need to take matters into our own hands,” Abbott wrote in the mailer, which was reported by the Texas Signal website.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Sanders campaign boss concedes he may not win New Hampshire
The campaign manager for Bernie Sanders emphasized Thursday that New Hampshire is a critical presidential primary state he expects Sanders to win, but he's leaving room for a scenario in which Sanders falls short. Faiz Shakir said he doesn't "like the language of must-win," though he does believe it is an important early voting state. But he said he still thinks Sanders could win the Democratic nomination without taking New Hampshire, though he acknowledges that the path to victory would be more difficult if Sanders doesn't.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Catholic priest Joseph McLoone stole church money and spent it on himself, Grindr men, authorities say
A Catholic priest in Pennsylvania has been arrested for stealing nearly $100,000 from his church and spending it on a beach house, travel, dining and "men with whom he maintained sexual relationships," according to authorities. Father Joseph McLoone, 56, was charged with felony theft and related crimes after diverting parish funds into a secret account, the Chester County District Attorney's Office said in a news release. McLoone took over as pastor of St. Joseph's Parish in Downingtown in 2011 after Monsignor William Lynn, the first senior official convicted in the U.S. for covering up a sex abuse scandal, was indicted and incarcerated.
- WorldReuters
Encouraged by Johnson's visit, UK officials now hoping rest of EU agrees to work on Brexit solution
Britain is hoping the rest of the European Union falls in behind France and Germany and agrees to work on solving a deadlock over Brexit, with officials sensing a glimmer of hope after meetings this week, but conscious of the need for a wider consensus in Europe. Britain is on course to leave the EU, its biggest trading partner, on Oct. 31 without any formal deal to soften the unprecedented divorce, unless both sides agree to reopen stalled talks and find a way to resolve their differences. This week, some British newspapers cheered what they called a major breakthrough and sterling rose after both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron offered Prime Minister Boris Johnson what he described as "positive noises" on their willingness to consider an exit deal agreement.
- PoliticsKGO – San Francisco
Chaotic scene as DNC votes down climate change debate at San Francisco meeting
The move sparked loud and angry backlash from climate change activists who believe the Democratic Party should change the rules to allow for a debate focused solely on climate issues.
WorldAFPBeijing hits back after Trudeau vows to stand up to China
Beijing on Thursday accused Ottawa of worsening bilateral relations after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed to stand up to China amid deepening diplomatic and trade disputes. The two countries have been locked in a feud since last December, when Canada detained top Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and -- in apparent retaliation -- China detained two Canadian nationals over espionage-linked accusations. On Wednesday, Trudeau pushed back against Beijing in a speech that promised to "always defend Canadians and Canadian interests" and to not "back down".
- NewsINSIDER
A woman caught a fish with two mouths and the photo is just as shocking as you would expect
Courtesy of Knotty Boys Fishing A woman in upstate New York surely found the "catch-of-the-day" when she reeled in a fish that looks like it has two mouths. Debbie Geddes caught the fish while out with her husband on Lake Champlain and released the fish back into the water after snapping some photos. Her colleague, Adam Facteau, thought the lake oddity would likely garner some attention online and posted it to a local fishing enthusiasts page on Facebook, where it has since garnered thousands of comments and shares.
- WorldBloomberg
Putin Needs to Bury This Relic of Stalin
As Europe marks 80 years of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, which carved up eastern Europe between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Russia is trying to defend the agreement again. There is no political benefit to doing this. President Vladimir Putin needs to abandon his Stalinist inheritance of a foreign policy based solely on national interest.
- PoliticsNational Review
CNN Hires Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe as Contributor
Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe is joining CNN as an on-air contributor, the network's media reporter Oliver Darcy announced Friday. McCabe was fired from the FBI in March 2018 after the Department of Justice's inspector general revealed that he'd repeatedly lied under oath to investigators about his role in leaking information on the bureau's Clinton Foundation investigation to the Wall Street Journal. The Inspector General referred the matter to the U.S. attorney's office for investigation and McCabe may still face criminal charges. The 21-year FBI veteran maintains his innocence, arguing that he was misunderstood and tried to correct the record.
- NewsThe Guardian
Radical gun reform may finally have a voice in Washington
And it may represent the first time in decades that the majority of Americans will get any real representation in the gun control debate in Washington. March for Our Lives' young activists endorsed an Australia-style mandatory government buyback and destruction of “assault weapons”. They want to decrease the number of guns in circulation by 30% – which would mean roughly 100m fewer firearms in American hands.
- NewsAssociated Press
7 sent to hospital after smoke fills cabin of Hawaii flight
Seven people were taken to the hospital Thursday after smoke filled the cabin of a Hawaiian Airlines flight from California to Hawaii. Hawaiian Airlines says 184 passengers and seven crew members used evacuation slides to get off the plane after it declared an in-flight emergency and landed in Honolulu. Jon Snook, Hawaiian Airlines chief operating officer, said smoke was first detected on Hawaiian Airlines Flight 47 from Oakland, California, about 20 minutes prior to landing as the plane began to descend.
- NewsThe Independent
Antisemitic beliefs spreading among evangelical Christians in America
It's an anti-Semitic viewpoint shared by a number of evangelical Christians across the country. The relationship between Christians and Jews has been fraught for almost 2,000 years since the death of Jesus. Today, with a president who levels accusations about Jews and who encourages his fans to mistrust the mainstream media, a growing number of evangelicals are turning to the Internet for information, and finding anti-Jewish beliefs there.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
After Beating and Hernia, American Prisoner Paul Whelan Refused Hospitalization by FSB Doctors
MOSCOW–Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen held in Russia on suspicion of spying, looked pale and sick when his prison guards brought him to Lefortovo court on Friday. He said he had been beaten and is suffering from a hernia, but his condition is hardly a surprise after eight months in Moscow's Lefortovo, a prison run but the Russian Federal Security Service, FSB, and it looks like Whelan has learned only too well how incarceration there operates. Whelan is facing 20 years in Russian prison for spying, after accepting a flashcard that allegedly contains some sensitive information.
- HealthBusiness Insider
'An impossible choice': Why a Maine family planning clinic gave up $2 million of federal funding for reproductive health care
Under a new Trump administration rule, US family planning clinics will no longer be eligible for federal funding under Title X if they provide abortion services or referrals to other abortion providers. Established in 1970, Title X is a federal program that helps low-income and uninsured Americans access family planning and reproductive care by administering grants to healthcare providers. While the new regulation, commonly referred to as a domestic "gag rule" was intended to target Planned Parenthood, it's also jeopardized the futures of smaller, regional family planning and reproductive clinics as well.
WorldAFPHomemade bomb kills Israeli teen, wounds two others in West Bank
A rare homemade bomb attack in the occupied West Bank killed an Israeli teen and seriously wounded her father and brother Friday as they visited a spring near a Jewish settlement, officials said. Israeli security forces deployed throughout the area where the attack took place near the settlement of Dolev, northwest of Ramallah, to search for suspects. Israeli medics had earlier reported that a 17-year-old had been critically wounded in the attack and officials later announced her death, naming her as Rina Shnerb from the central Israeli city of Lod.
