| Why a Black man from Louisiana is serving a life sentence for stealing hedge clippers Posted: 07 Aug 2020 04:42 PM PDT  Louisiana's highest court won't review a life sentence for Fair Wayne Bryant, who was convicted of attempting to steal a pair of hedge clippers in 1997.
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| New 2020 election map predicts resounding victory for Biden against Trump Posted: 07 Aug 2020 08:04 AM PDT  With months to go until one of the most unprecedented elections in American history, anything can happen — but at least one new prediction has forecasted a resounding victory for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee.The first 2020 battleground electoral map by NBC News was released on Friday, showing the former vice president with a lead of 334 electoral votes.
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| Should Judge Sullivan Be Disqualified from Flynn Case? An Appeals Court Is Asking Posted: 08 Aug 2020 03:30 AM PDT  Maybe Judge Luttig was right all along.I had the misgivings you'd expect back in late May, when I disagreed with J. Michael Luttig, the stellar scholar and former federal appeals court judge, regarding how the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals should handle the Flynn case.At the time, that court's three-judge panel had not yet heard oral argument on Michael Flynn's mandamus petition — i.e., Flynn's request that the panel find that federal district judge Emmet Sullivan was acting lawlessly. Sullivan had not only failed to grant the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the criminal case against Flynn; he had appointed a former federal judge (the overtly anti-Trump John Gleeson) to posit the argument abandoned by DOJ — to wit, that Flynn should proceed to sentencing because he had pled guilty to a false-statements charge, waiving his right to contest the case any further in exchange for the government's agreement not to file any other charges. Basically, Flynn was asking the appellate court to order Judge Sullivan to dismiss the case.In a Washington Post op-ed, Luttig contended that "there are ample grounds in the actions the district court has already taken for the appeals court to order that the government's motion to dismiss be heard by a different judge, and it should so order."It is interesting to revisit this assessment in light of an order issued by the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday. The Circuit directed that the participants in the dispute over Judge Sullivan's actions, including Judge Sullivan himself, must address the question of whether Sullivan should either recuse himself or be disqualified by the Circuit. Arguments in the case will be heard this coming Tuesday, August 11, in a rare en banc review by the full Circuit (i.e., all active judges who have not taken senior status, minus one who has recused himself, so it will be a ten-judge panel).Let's back up for a moment.Back in May, I disagreed with Luttig because I thought the more important issue was prejudice to Flynn, not the harm Sullivan's apparent bias was causing to the court's integrity. At the time, the D.C. Circuit had given Sullivan ten days to respond to Flynn's mandamus petition. I argued that, rather than reassigning the case to another judge, the Circuit should give Sullivan a chance to explain himself. If he was unable to do that to the Circuit's satisfaction, I posited that the Circuit should then order him to dismiss the case.After Luttig and I, among other commentators, weighed in on what the appellate court should do, a three-judge panel heard argument. The panel granted Flynn's mandamus petition and ordered Sullivan to dismiss the case. The 2–1 majority reasoned that, with possible exceptions that do not apply in Flynn's case, the Justice Department's discretion to end a prosecution is unreviewable. A dissenting opinion countered that mandamus, which is an extraordinary remedy disfavored by courts absent truly egregious judicial lawlessness, was premature — i.e., that Sullivan should be permitted to conduct a hearing and, if he decided not to grant dismissal, Flynn could then appeal. That would be the normal route to appellate review in a criminal case.After the panel ruled for Flynn, Judge Sullivan asked the Circuit to rehear the case en banc. Sullivan's petition was remarkable because he is not a party in the case. The only parties in a criminal prosecution are the government and the accused. The judge is the arbiter, not a litigant. The court is not supposed to have a stake in the outcome. It is unseemly for a judge to act as if he has become invested in the outcome of a case the way a party is. It strongly suggests a loss of judicial perspective.Nevertheless, the D.C. Circuit granted Judge Sullivan's petition. It vacated the panel's ruling and agreed to full-court review.At first blush, this seemed like doom for Flynn. After all, the full court skews heavily Democratic: seven of the ten judges who will hear the case were appointed by Democratic presidents. There are only four Republican appointees, and as noted above, one (appointed by President Trump) has recused himself. In modern times, there are enough blatantly politicized judicial decisions that people can be forgiven for assuming that partisanship always trumps law. Indeed, in the three-judge panel decision, the two majority judges who ruled in Flynn's favor were Republican appointees, while the dissenter was a Democratic appointee.Nevertheless, the mandamus litigation in Flynn's case is not a brute political matter. Anyone who listened to the oral argument could tell how reluctant the judges seemed about issuing a mandamus writ against Judge Sullivan, even if they were convinced that he was wrong on the law. Furthermore, the main Circuit precedent, United States v. Fokker Services B.V. (2016), which clearly indicates that the Justice Department's dismissal motion should be granted, was written by Chief Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan. He is often touted as a potential Supreme Court nominee in a future Democratic administration. For him, then, the case is a Catch-22: Walking away from his own reasoning in Fokker would be a bad look, while ruling in Flynn's favor would be very unpopular among Democrats. In addition, we should note that any of the Circuit's judges could have asked for en banc review by the full court. None did. The case is being heard because Sullivan himself pressed the issue.The complications presented by the mandamus dispute were evident in the Circuit's initial order scheduling the rehearing en banc, which added an intriguing directive: "The parties should be prepared to address whether there are 'no other adequate means to attain the relief' desired" (quoting from the Supreme Court's 2004 decision in Cheney v. U.S. District Court). I interpret this somewhat cryptic assertion to indicate that, while the Circuit judges have agreed to reconsider the panel's ruling because courts are generally hostile to mandamus, that hardly means the judges approve of the circus that Sullivan has made of the Flynn proceedings.The judges seemed to be signaling that they know the case should be dismissed, but they'd prefer not to slam a longtime district judge if there is some way to avoid doing so. Perhaps they could deny the writ, but couch the denial in a way that reminded Judge Sullivan that a court must neither take over the prosecutor's role nor probe the executive's decision-making in a matter that the Constitution commits to executive discretion.That is what makes Wednesday's subsequent order regarding the en banc proceeding so interesting. The Circuit instructs counsel for Flynn, the Justice Department, and Judge Sullivan to consider the effect of Congress's disqualification statute (Section 455 of Title 28, U.S. Code). Specifically, the participants in the mandamus dispute are told to address the law's mandate that a judge be disqualified "in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned," particularly if the judge "is a party to the proceeding."Manifestly, at least some of the Circuit's judges (I'd wager most of them) are disturbed by the degree to which Judge Sullivan has exhibited bias and become invested in Flynn's case. This is exactly the problem on which Judge Luttig focused back in May.It could thus turn out that Luttig presciently homed in on the dispositive issue. I believe, though, that it's more a matter of new developments breaking, perhaps inevitably, in favor of disqualification. At the time Luttig wrote his op-ed, I still think it would have been premature for an appeals court to jump in and disqualify Judge Sullivan. The parties were not pushing for Sullivan to be removed, just that he be directed to grant the dismissal motion. And even in making his disqualification argument, Luttig conveyed some hesitation. He said the Circuit panel should grant the mandamus but in a more limited way than Flynn was suggesting: Have Judge Sullivan pick a different adviser (someone other than the explicitly biased Gleeson), then promptly rule on the motion to dismiss, explaining his reasoning in full so the appellate court could review it.That is not consistent with Luttig's other suggestion of having the case reassigned to another judge. But it was right: As things stood back in May, Sullivan should have been given an opportunity to do the right thing. Most of us were hoping he'd correct himself, rather than need to be corrected by a higher court.Plus, let's put personalities aside, as well as the understandable distaste judges have for mandamus (which essentially asks them to dress down a colleague). A federal appeals court also has very practical reasons for discouraging mandamus. The regular appellate process calls for a criminal case to be appealed only at the end of the lower court proceeding. At that point, the trial or plea is over, sentence has been imposed, the judgment has been entered, and the appeals court can deal with all the claims of error at once, with finality. Courts do not want to encourage litigants to start viewing mandamus as a way to appeal to the higher court in the middle of the lower court proceedings, any time a party claims a judge has made an error. Chaos would reign and cases would never end.That said, things have significantly changed in the nearly three months since we analysts first opined on the mandamus dispute.For one thing, Judge Sullivan retained his own counsel to argue the case on his behalf before the panel, as if he were a party. Then, when the panel's decision did not go the way he wanted it to go, he took the highly unusual step of seeking en banc review. As the Justice Department pointed out, Sullivan did not have standing to seek reconsideration; he is not a party and did not comply with the rules government officials are supposed to follow before seeking a rehearing.More to the point, by seeking full-court reconsideration of the mandamus matter when both the Justice Department and Flynn are seeking dismissal of the case, Sullivan is both causing prejudice to the defendant and stoking suspicion about the executive branch's motives. How, then, could Sullivan continue to be considered a fair and impartial judge, fit to rule on the Justice Department's dismissal motion?That question may signal something about the wisdom of the D.C. Circuit judges that I previously failed to appreciate. The Justice Department's contention that Sullivan lacks standing seemed compelling to me. I was surprised when the Circuit appeared to ignore it in granting Sullivan's request for full-court review; I thought they'd deny it and let the panel's ruling stand. But is it possible that the Circuit saw this as a graceful off-ramp? When none of the Circuit's judges asked for full-court reconsideration, that signaled to Sullivan that if he wanted it, he would have to ask for it himself. The Circuit judges probably calculated that if the irascible Sullivan made a formal application for rehearing en banc, it would be manifest that he had transformed himself into a party in the Flynn case. Then the Circuit could use the disqualification rule to nudge him aside for the sake of maintaining the judiciary's reputation for objectivity. That would avoid all the downsides of issuing a mandamus writ while gently reminding lower court judges that they are supposed to remain umpires in these contests, not become one of the players.To sum up, whatever one may have thought about the gravity of Sullivan's irregular behavior back in May, he has now clearly crossed the Rubicon. It is incumbent on him to recuse himself. If he can't bring himself to do that — a failure that would further demonstrate a lack of judicial detachment — the D.C. Circuit should disqualify him. Either way, the case should be reassigned to a new judge, who should promptly grant the Justice Department's motion to dismiss.I'll conclude with a verity that seems sadly lost on Judge Sullivan: Granting the Justice Department's dismissal motion would not be a judicial endorsement of the motion, much less a court ruling that Flynn is not guilty. Judge Sullivan is absolutely entitled to believe the Justice Department is wrong to dismiss the case, and that Flynn is as guilty as the day is long. What a judge is not entitled to do, however, is substitute his view for the prosecutor's on the question of whether a prosecution should continue. In our system, separation of powers principles make that the Justice Department's call.
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| Fact check: Sex crimes by public officials not connected to Ghislaine Maxwell Posted: 07 Aug 2020 10:23 AM PDT  Posts say sex crimes by dozens of public officials are connected to Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein. But they're not.
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| Fort Hood commander's transfer on hold amid investigations Posted: 07 Aug 2020 02:37 PM PDT  Army leaders have delayed the planned transfer of the Fort Hood commander, as a team of independent investigators heads to the base to determine whether leadership failures contributed to the murder of a soldier earlier this year, and several other deaths. Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, commander of Fort Hood, Texas, was slated to go to Fort Bliss, which is near El Paso, and take over leadership of the 1st Armored Division. Command of a division is a key step in an Army officer's career.
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| Robber snatches California man's life savings in front of bank Posted: 07 Aug 2020 11:23 AM PDT  Francisco Cornejo walking to his car after making a hefty withdrawal from his account. He was carrying 200-thousand dollars when a robber attacked him and ripped away Conejo's bag of money. The thief escaped with the money and has yet to be arrested.
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| County official uses racial slur, blames Black people for COVID-19 spread in Michigan Posted: 07 Aug 2020 09:23 AM PDT  Locals are now calling for his resignation.
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| Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. is taking an 'indefinite' leave of absence Posted: 07 Aug 2020 02:48 PM PDT  Falwell Jr. was heavily criticized this week after he posted and deleted a photo of himself on a yacht with his pants unzipped and arm around a woman.
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| UN set for showdown over US Iran arms embargo push Posted: 07 Aug 2020 11:22 PM PDT  The UN Security Council is set next week to roundly reject a US resolution to extend an Iranian arms embargo, diplomats say, setting up a lengthy showdown with repercussions for the Iran nuclear deal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Wednesday that the United States would put forward its long-awaited resolution despite ardent opposition from Russia and China. "The resolution takes a maximalist position on Iran," one diplomat told AFP.
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| The US pledged over $17 million in initial disaster aid for Lebanon after an explosion devastated Beirut Posted: 08 Aug 2020 06:40 AM PDT  Lebanese authorities are investigating the explosion that left more than 150 dead, thousands injured, and leveled a large portion of the city.
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| Woman confronting vandals covered in paint during renewed Portland protests Posted: 07 Aug 2020 02:21 PM PDT  Protesters in Portland allegedly threw white paint over a woman, as demonstrators clashed with police for a third consecutive day.On Friday, following two days of protests marred by vandalism, more than 200 people clashed with police, as two other Black Lives Matter protests marched peacefully through the city.
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| Hong Kong hits back at 'shameless' U.S. sanctions on leader Carrie Lam Posted: 08 Aug 2020 04:29 AM PDT  The Hong Kong government said it was being used as a "pawn" in the U.S.-China relationship.
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| US: Border tunnel appears to be 'most sophisticated' Posted: 06 Aug 2020 10:07 PM PDT  An incomplete tunnel found stretching from Mexico to Arizona appears to be "the most sophisticated tunnel in U.S. history," authorities said. The tunnel intended for smuggling ran from a neighborhood in San Luis Río Colorado, Mexico, to San Luis, Arizona, where it stopped short of reaching the surface. It was built in an area that's not conducive to tunnels because of the terrain, and it had a ventilation system, water lines, electrical wiring, a rail system and extensive reinforcement, federal officials say.
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| Former US soldiers sentenced to 20 years for bungled Venezuelan coup plot Posted: 07 Aug 2020 10:35 PM PDT  A Venezuelan court sentenced two former US special forces soldiers to 20 years in prison for their part in a failed beach attack aimed at overthrowing President Nicolas Maduro, prosecutors announced late on Friday. Former Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry admitted to taking part in the May 4 operation orchestrated by a third ex-US soldier who remains in the United States, Venezuelan's chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab announced on Twitter. "THEY ADMITTED THEIR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FACTS," Saab wrote, adding that the case will continue for dozens of other defendants. He did not offer details. "Operation Gideon" was launched from makeshift training camps in neighbouring Colombia and left at least eight rebel soldiers dead while a total of 66 were jailed. Former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, who operated a private, Florida-based security firm called Silvercorp USA, claimed responsibility for the failed attack. Venezuelan prosecutors announced that Denman and Berry, both decorated former US service members, were found guilty of conspiracy, trafficking in illegal arms and terrorism.
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| Partisan divide among Americans who believe 'it is safe now' to reopen persists as COVID-19 cases rise, survey finds Posted: 07 Aug 2020 11:54 AM PDT  Republicans and Democrats remain divided on when business and activities should reopen.
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| Kasich and Sanders to join forces for a night of unity at Democratic convention Posted: 07 Aug 2020 01:30 AM PDT  The roster for the event is taking shape, with a few notable additions — and omissions.
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| France and Germany pulled out of talks to reform the WHO because the US was trying to take control, according to a report Posted: 08 Aug 2020 04:58 AM PDT  The US, who said last month that they will leave the WHO in July 2021, is trying to dictate the terms, according to several European officials.
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| New York is moving homeless people into luxury hotels to protect them against coronavirus and wealthy neighbourhoods aren't happy Posted: 07 Aug 2020 01:29 PM PDT  New York was in the midst of a record homelessness crisis even before the coronavirus hit. Some 60,000 people were filling municipal shelters across the city every night. Nearly a third of that number was living in dorm-style facilities for single adults, sharing bathrooms, dining areas and sleeping facilities."When Covid struck, we recognised very quickly this was a recipe for disaster," said Jacqueline Simone, of Coalition for the Homeless, a New York charity. The problem was only going to get worse, they warned, as the economic crisis caused by the pandemic deepened.
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| New 'threat' against former Saudi spy in Canada: media Posted: 08 Aug 2020 01:53 PM PDT  A former senior Saudi intelligence official who has accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of trying to have him assassinated in 2018 has been placed under heightened security after a new threat on his life, a Canadian newspaper reported. The Globe and Mail said Canadian security services had been informed of a new attempted attack on Saad Aljabri, who lives at an undisclosed location in the Toronto region. Aljabri served as a counterespionage chief under a rival prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, who was ousted in 2017 by Prince Mohammed.
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| Is France helping Lebanon, or trying to reconquer it? Posted: 08 Aug 2020 12:43 AM PDT  It was almost as if Emmanuel Macron forgot that Lebanon is no longer a French protectorate. Visiting explosion-ravaged Beirut this week, France's leader comforted distraught crowds, promised to rebuild the city and claimed that the blast pierced France's own heart. "France will never let Lebanon go," Macron said.
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| The former Dallas police officer who killed Botham Jean in his own apartment is appealing her murder conviction Posted: 08 Aug 2020 09:28 AM PDT  Lawyers for Amber Guyger, who is serving 10 years for Jean's murder, argue in the appeal she had the "right to act in deadly force in self-defense."
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| How Nicola Sturgeon has secretly massaged Scotland’s coronavirus record Posted: 08 Aug 2020 03:48 AM PDT  Nicola Sturgeon spent much of July telling anyone who would listen that the prevalence of coronavirus in England was "five times" higher than in Scotland. The figure was deployed to justify her refusal to rule out effectively closing the border by imposing quarantine on travellers from England, and her highly controversial move to set her a Scotland-only policy on air bridges, which airports warned put livelihoods at risk. The day after she first made the claim, masked nationalists in hazmat suits descended on the border near Berwick-upon-Tweed, shouting abuse at English "plague carriers".
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| 12,000 crew members still on cruise ships in US waters months after COVID-19 pandemic shut cruising down Posted: 08 Aug 2020 10:11 AM PDT  Nearly five months after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the cruise industry, more than 12,000 crew members remained on ships in U.S. waters alone.
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| There are more problems with onions. Another brand pulls products at Walmart and Kroger Posted: 07 Aug 2020 05:41 AM PDT  A nationwide onion recall has grown to include products from Taylor Farms Texas, a Dallas company that is voluntarily recalling products containing onions from its supplier. An onion recall was initiated by Thomson International last week.
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| Appeals court rules for U.S. House over subpoena for ex-White House lawyer Posted: 07 Aug 2020 07:39 AM PDT  A U.S. appeals court on Friday dealt the administration of President Donald Trump a major legal setback, ruling against its bid to block a Democratic-led congressional panel's subpoena for testimony from former White House Counsel Donald McGahn. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on a 7-2 vote said the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee had legal standing to seek to enforce the subpoena. "Today's decision is a profound victory for the rule of law and our constitutional system of government," said Representative Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the committee.
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| Hillary Clinton says NYT writer had 'too much pot brownie' after forgetting her 2016 White House run Posted: 08 Aug 2020 09:56 AM PDT  Hillary Clinton roasted The New York Times and their columnist Maureen Dowd - for apparently forgetting that she ran on a mixed-gender presidential ticket in 2016.She joined a chorus of Twitter mockery after the paper's Opinion Twitter account posted a now-deleted message promoting Ms Dowd's latest column, which looked back at the Walter Mondale–Geraldine Ferraro ticket of 1984.
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| Missing Georgia mom may have met man she was speaking to online before disappearance Posted: 07 Aug 2020 07:19 AM PDT  A Georgia mother missing for nearly two weeks after her son was found in a Florida parking lot may have met a man she was speaking to online, according to her father.
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| How Is New York Having Crazy Parties With No COVID Surge? Posted: 07 Aug 2020 01:36 AM PDT  Bikini-packed pool parties. Insane backyard blowouts. Unhinged prom bashes.Spectacular scenes of COVID-19 recklessness have emerged from New Jersey in recent weeks, alarming state leaders into implementing new restrictions to curb the tide of rising coronavirus cases and prompting plenty of snickering about the Jersey Shore. But a looming question has plagued experts as similar signs of non-compliance have been witnessed across the Hudson River in New York—without the same upticks.New Jersey and New York have had similar regulations, travel restrictions, and contact tracing efforts. Giant, raucous boat parties in New York are making headlines, too. So why aren't infection rates following suit the same way? Why are two states that were both early coronavirus hot spots on seemingly divergent courses all these months later?As of Thursday, New Jersey's case rate per 100,000 people was 30 over the past seven days, according to The New York Times. The state had a positivity rate of 1.77 percent on its tests over the past week, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. For the past month, that number was 1.52 percent. The state was testing 2.3 people per 1,000, a rate that was trending downward according to Johns Hopkins.Those figures might seem perfectly fine in the abstract, but they amounted to an ominous trend."The numbers are setting off alarms," New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy said last Friday. "We are standing in a very dangerous place."Meanwhile, New York's case rate per 100,000 was 24 over the past seven days, according to the Times. This week, the state had a positivity rate of 0.97 percent on its tests, according to Johns Hopkins. For the past month, that number was 1.06 percent. The state was testing 3.5 people per 1,000, a rate that was trending upward according to Johns Hopkins.Conversations with a wide array of public health experts, local health officials, and disease modelers suggested the reasons for the split were still very much out of focus. But hypotheses ranged from subtle differences in pandemic restrictions to the perception of New York as being more inclined toward aggressive enforcement, deterring non-compliance and would-be spreaders from traveling there.'Worse Than New York': How Coronavirus Exploded in South Carolina"Up until this week the restrictions on indoor gatherings were way too high" in New Jersey, said Dr. David Rubin, the director of PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which has modeled the pandemic in collaboration with the White House Coronavirus Task Force. "That was really problematic, particularly with people gathering on the Jersey Shore, which also has a long coastline and is a big vacation destination."Of course, New Jersey's cases and test positivity rates were nowhere near as concerning as those in hot zones like Texas or Florida. And New York is still finding more COVID-19-positive people on any given day than its neighbor, thanks to its much larger population. But the trendlines in Jersey have concerned state authorities, and last Friday, Murphy squarely placed the blame for new cases on residents not following the rules."Everyone who walks around refusing to wear a mask, or who hosts an indoor house party, or who overstuffs a boat, is directly contributing to these increases," Murphy told reporters. "This has to stop."It didn't.Just one day later, about 300 bikini-clad and maskless guests spilled out of a massive pool party in Alpine, New Jersey, when police showed up to break up the crowd, NBC New York reported. The party was advertised on social media and by DJs as "The Lavish Experience Pool Party," and the unidentified host told local reporters that "it got out of control."Promoters had posted about the party, and party buses pulled up outside. "It's been happening all summer," one neighbor told The New York Post. "The owner of the house doesn't care, the mayor doesn't care. There's cursing, loud music, drugs."Alpine Mayor Paul Tomasko, for what it's worth, told the local NBC station that such parties were under investigation by local police, state officials, and the county prosecutor's office.A few weeks earlier, a "BikiniPalooza" event was held at the same mansion, with some neighbors calling it "a night club." It received the same promotional treatment, according to posts on Instagram.Murphy has said the event involved "close congregation and not a lot of face covering, if any."In the aftermath, the governor announced on Monday that he would reduce the limit on indoor gatherings to 25 percent capacity, capped at 25 people total. Until this week, it had been capped at 100. By contrast, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive order on COVID-19 has for some time prohibited crowds of non-essential workers over 50 people indoors. The rate of transmission in New Jersey jumped from 0.87 a month ago to 1.48 on Monday, Murphy said, meaning that people were spreading the virus more readily."This is no time for complacency, for selfishness, or for thinking that someone else can wear a mask but not you," Murphy tweeted on Wednesday. "Do your part."Carrie Nawrocki, executive director at the Hudson Regional Health Commission, which oversees a population of about 675,000 and includes Jersey City, said her area has seen "extensive delays with testing turnaround time," making it "difficult to get an accurate picture of the daily cases we have."Nawrocki said that there has not been a significant increase in case numbers among the 18-29 age group, but that she doesn't "think that's necessarily the age group that's going to get tested as often, especially if they are not adhering to social distancing.""We have enough contact tracers and disease investigators for every new case that comes in, so we are reaching out to everyone and we haven't identified one specific reason why people are getting COVID," said Nawrocki. "My guess would be that they have to do with travel."That being said, NJ.com reported that state officials warned in recent weeks that the 18-29 age group was the fastest-growing in the state to test positive for COVID-19, and Murphy has certainly pointed the finger at large indoor parties hosted by younger people. Dozens of new cases have been traced to house parties in towns like Westfield and Middletown.Still, the same recklessness—yelling, cheering, drinking and singing without masks—has been reported in New York City. On bistro patios, on crowded boats, and in the middle of crowded streets."We're drinking to everyone's health," a 31-year-old consultant who was drinking a beer with running buddies at a sports bar told Bloomberg News last month. "We could've stopped the virus a long time ago if they gave us clear directions. Now, they want to blame it on us."Last weekend, officials in New York City broke up an alleged sex party of about 30 people in Midtown on Friday and then, a day later, busted a party boat filled with 170 revelers. Authorities arrested the owners of the ship, the Liberty Belle, for allegedly violating the state's ban on large crowds and for running a bar without a license.On Sunday, the New York State Liquor Authority issued violations for 24 city establishments that violated social distancing guidelines, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. The state has also reportedly opened an investigation into a July 25 outdoor charity concert in the Hamptons that was attended by more than 2,000 people. As of this weekend, the total number of pandemic-related charges in the state had hit 503, according to ABC News."It's disrespectful," Cuomo said Monday. "It's illegal. It violates public health. It violates public decency. What if one of the people on that cruise gets sick and dies?"Rubin posited that the main difference between both states could be a matter of enforcement. Or, just as important when it comes to deterrence in the context of disease containment, the perception of enforcement."My impression of Gov. Cuomo is that kind of tough stance with anyone who might try to defy the rules," said Rubin. At the very least, the two states' travel advisory websites show a tonal difference on that score. That matters because, according to Dr. Brittany Kmush, an assistant professor at Syracuse University and expert on epidemiology and infectious diseases, "the biggest risk in both states is importation from higher risk areas.""The self-quarantine is voluntary, but compliance is expected," according to the New Jersey public health department website's travel advisory page. The New York health department meanwhile, "expects all travelers to comply and protect public health by adhering to the quarantine.' But, significantly, it also stipulates that it reserves "the right to issue a mandatory quarantine order" on any given individual, for which a violation is subject to a penalty of up to $10,000 or imprisonment up to 15 days, according to the state's website. New York City also made a show of announcing checkpoints to enforce a quarantine on out-of-state travelers this week."If people don't believe there's any penalty, they're just going to defy orders," said Rubin. "These are very important differences.""Even though both states have the same travel restrictions, the perception of the consequences differ by the states," Kmush added.New Jersey has made its own show of enforcement, too—or, at least, it did in the past.N.J. Gym Owners Drop F-Bombs in Off the Rails CNN InterviewFrom April through June, State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and State Police Superintendent Patrick Callahan released regular round-ups of enforcement actions against violators of Murphy's executive orders. Just in the first weekend, they reported that officers had issued more than 200 summonses in Newark alone, each carrying a sentence of up to six months and a fine as large as $1,000. Local police also famously busted a party of 30 people at a house in the town of Rumson and arrested the homeowner and an allegedly unruly guest. Cops cuffed a Toms River man after crashing another party of 20 at his abode. Authorities in West Windsor took a 16-year-old year into custody who they accused of hacking on a 52-year-old in a Wegmans supermarket. And 13 people were charged with second-degree terroristic threats during an emergency in as many incidents in just the first half the month, after they reportedly coughed or spit on police and claimed to be carrying the virus. The round-ups went from daily to weekly in May, to ending entirely after June 5 as the state moved forward with reopening.Asked for comment, Murphy's office deferred to Grewal's team, who did not provide a response by press time. The New Jersey Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment for this story."I got the sense that New Jersey was not enforcing things as strongly as New York is, where Cuomo has cracked down on bars and is wielding more penalties than other governors are, and that's keeping people in line," said Rubin. For guidelines and restrictions in other states, what will matter in case counts, he said, is: "Are these just empty threats? Or is there just more teeth to them?"In any case, Rubin said, "Our models are seeing sea levels rise everywhere around New York, but we don't know exactly why New York has been insulated from the resurgences we're seeing in New Jersey and Pennsylvania." Or, as Kmush put it: "I really don't think we'll know the answer to this for years."—With additional reporting by William BreddermanRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| George Floyd: US protesters charged as 'gang' face life sentence Posted: 07 Aug 2020 07:57 AM PDT  Black Lives Matter protesters in Utah were accused of acting as a gang to vandalise a building.
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| Unknown gunman kills 2 Lebanese in Iranian capital Posted: 08 Aug 2020 03:49 AM PDT |
| France deploys teams to Mauritius as oil spill disaster worsens Posted: 08 Aug 2020 04:23 AM PDT  France on Saturday dispatched aircraft and technical advisers from Reunion to Mauritius after the prime minister appealed for urgent assistance to contain a worsening oil spill polluting the island nation's famed reefs, lagoons and oceans. Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth declared "a state of environmental emergency" late Friday as oil spilled unabated into the coral reefs, lagoons and white-sand shores upon which Mauritius has built its reputation as a green tourism destination.
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| A man in his 20s died of the plague in New Mexico's first reported death from the infection in years Posted: 08 Aug 2020 01:17 PM PDT  The New Mexico Department of Health said it was the first plague-related death in New Mexico since 2015.
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| Sales of pricey New York City apartments plunge as the suburbs become cool again Posted: 08 Aug 2020 04:55 AM PDT  Homes in Connecticut and Westchester's suburbs are flying off the market as wealthy New Yorkers flee to greener pastures.
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| Angry Lebanese blame politicians for destruction Posted: 07 Aug 2020 03:44 AM PDT 
"We can't go to the upper floor because it might fall on us," she said. She is among thousands of angry Lebanese reeling from a blast that killed at least 145 people, injured 5,000 others and left up to 250,000 without habitable homes. Officials said the figure was likely to rise. At the port, destroyed by Tuesday's giant mushroom cloud and fireball, families sought news of the missing, amid mounting anger at the authorities for allowing huge quantities of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, used in making fertilisers and bombs, to be stored there for years in unsafe conditions. There was a small but violent protest near an entrance to parliament in central Beirut, where riot police deployed after some demonstrators burned objects and hurled rocks at security forces, footage from local broadcasters showed. The government has ordered some port officials be put under house arrest. State news agency NNA said 16 people were taken into custody. A judicial source and local media said Beirut Port General Manager Hassan Koraytem was among them. The central bank said it had decided to freeze the accounts of Koraytem and the head of Lebanese customs along with five others.
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| Stimulus bill discussions hit impasse Friday as deadline nears: ‘Disappointing meeting’ Posted: 07 Aug 2020 08:36 AM PDT  The stalemate left White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows recommending that Trump act through executive order.
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| India moves Kashmiri village leaders to safety after wave of attacks Posted: 07 Aug 2020 04:34 AM PDT  India has shifted scores of village and municipality leaders, mostly from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party, to secure locations in Kashmir after a spate of militant attacks, police and two security officials said on Friday. Separatists fighting Indian rule in the disputed region have stepped up attacks on lower level politicians, many of whom do not have personal security guards, in recent weeks. "It is a temporary arrangement," Kashmir valley's police chief Vijay Kumar told Reuters.
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| Canada 'knows the root cause': China hints at Huawei retaliation as it sentences two Canadians to death Posted: 07 Aug 2020 12:16 PM PDT  A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Canada "knows the root cause" behind recent death sentences for Canadians facing drug charges, the latest escalation in conflict between both countries following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reportedly said the judicial system in China "handles cases independently" while discussing the recent death sentences for two Canadian nationals charged in separate cases with transporting and manufacturing drugs in China.
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| Aggressive New Guerrilla Tactics Target America’s Eviction Machine Posted: 07 Aug 2020 01:34 AM PDT  On Wednesday, about 12 hours before New York's eviction moratorium was set to expire, protesters piled into the fluorescent lobby of a Brooklyn office building. But they weren't visiting elected officials who could extend the moratorium or even landlords they might shame. Instead, the group was targeting lawyers who help process the city's mountain of impending eviction notices."No landlords, no cops, all evictions gotta stop," protesters chanted at one of two law offices they visited that day.America is on the cusp of an evictions crisis, with an estimated 23 million people at risk of losing their homes. A federal eviction moratorium—which barred evictions on government-backed residences to protect the millions of Americans who lost income due to COVID-19—expired in late July, with a $600 per week COVID-19 unemployment benefit expiring several days later. Although some states have their own eviction moratoriums on a wider array of homes, those are often also slated to expire soon too. In a last-ditch effort to fight lockouts, and after a summer of rage targeted at cops and other symbols of law and order in America, activists aren't content to go after politicians. Instead, they want to shut down the machinery of the eviction system: the nation's housing courts and the people who make it run.Wednesday's action in Brooklyn, which also made stops at Brooklyn Borough Hall and a Brooklyn housing court, saw demonstrators march through two law offices that they said did just that."Keep trying to evict tenants, and we'll keep showing up and shutting down your office every day," the group Housing Justice for All tweeted alongside video of one of the protests. "Other lawyers working for landlords: watch out, we're coming for you next."Calls for better tenant protection may be having an impact: New Yorkers appeared to receive a one-month extension on Wednesday, though the details were still being hashed out in court, and tenant groups said thousands of people whose evictions predated the pandemic could still be cast out.The group continued the protests Thursday, storming the lobby of another real-estate law firm whose website domain name is "nyevictionlawyer."Walmart Workers Are Terrified of Enforcing Mask RulesNeither of the law offices targeted Wednesday returned The Daily Beast's request for comment. A partner at the third office, Balsamo, Rosenblatt & Hall, said he sympathized with the protesters' claims, but that they shouldn't have focused on him. "I stop evictions. Half of my clients are tenants," Robert Rosenblatt told The Daily Beast. "I'm not just a landlords' attorney like they think. They targeted the wrong party today, because I prevent homelessness."He said that he would still continue to represent landlords in eviction proceedings. "I have a family, I have to support my family. I have been out of work for 100 days." Rosenblatt also claimed protesters stole his notary stamps and wrote on surfaces with markers. "That's not peaceful, that's not how you get a message across," he said. "That's violence. That's looting. That's illegal. That's a misdemeanor."The Crown Heights Tenant Union was among the groups protesting on both days. Although the organization declined to comment on Rosenblatt's allegations, Jess Dunn, who organizes with CHTU, said an employee tried pushing her and other protesters out of the office. (Rosenblatt, who was not present at the time, accused the protesters of trespassing, and of rushing an employee who tried to keep them out.)Dunn said the coronavirus pandemic had turned a long-simmering crisis of gentrification and evictions in Brooklyn's Crown Heights to a boiling point."COVID has really exacerbated it," Dunn told The Daily Beast. "This is a working-class neighborhood. A lot of folks have lost their jobs, gotten ill, had to take care of family members, and they're at a point where they can't afford to pay their rent."Getting lawyers to stop filing eviction papers might be a tall order. Some landlords have reportedly proceeded with lockouts even while prohibited by eviction moratoriums. Even though New Yorkers can technically appeal their evictions based on COVID-19 economic hardship after the moratorium expires, NYC landlords already obtained approximately 14,000 eviction warrants before it took effect, and may be able to start acting on them as soon as this week.Indeed, a discussion forum for landlords at the real-estate investing site BiggerPockets.com suggested many of them were licking their chops at the chance to clear out tenants nationwide.One poster suggested skirting what few protections there are for renters by offering "cash for keys to any of your non-paying tenants. I am doing that with one tomorrow and hope the tenant takes me up on it," the Los Angeles landlord wrote. "The eviction moratorium may have expired but courts are going to be backed up for months dealing with a flood of evictions which could cost a landlord far more money than simply paying the tenants off and moving on... not to mention evictions cost money."Others, like a landlord in Washington, urged colleagues to be more discriminating in their tenants, and to avoid "blue collar" workers who have been disproportionately affected by the COVID crisis. "One thing that I think is an important lesson here is not to rent to blue collar workers," he wrote.Still others expressed limited sympathy for some out-of-work tenants, stating that they should be enjoying a "windfall" of unemployment benefits. "They should be making mad unemployment money," one landlord advised another, who asked about how to deal with newly out-of-work tenants. "I'd consider offering them cash for keys to move out in 2 weeks or I would start the eviction process." (The $600 weekly bonus has now expired and, even when active, was notoriously difficult for some people to obtain. The original landlord explained that one of the tenants was ineligible for unemployment because they were on a work visa.)But rather than just talking about how evil landlords are, the protesters who stormed the Brooklyn law offices said part of their goal was to reveal the anatomy of an eviction."The purpose is to show folks how many moving pieces are part of the system and how many people you really can hold accountable," Dunn said.Art Against Displacement, another group that participated in the protests, represents renters in Manhattan's Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods. AAD member Vanessa Thill said she hoped the protest would help put faces to the eviction process—both in the eyes of the evicted and the people filing the orders."We were there to show them that this is not going to be just pushing through paperwork," she told The Daily Beast.The demonstrations were just the latest in a set of nationwide actions targeting the inner workings of the eviction machine. In New Orleans last week, activists chained themselves together outside a court to block landlords from filing eviction paperwork. They were partially successful, even if just for the day. Footage from the scene showed multiple people approaching the court, confronting the wall of protesters, and turning around without entering. Court officials contended that the protesters hurt their cause, however, because they blocked other people—including tenant attorneys—from entering.Activists in Kansas City took a similar approach last week, actually entering the courthouse to disrupt eviction proceedings. Two people were reportedly arrested. And in Brooklyn on Thursday, activists waged their own protest outside a housing court.Ultimately, Brooklyn's protesters want a full cancellation of rent—rather than a temporary reprieve that leaves renters in debt later. That can't come from landlords or real-estate attorneys, but from elected officials who, as of Thursday, did not seem close to providing it.For now, activists were content to make sure that everyone who had a hand in a system they loathed was a bit nervous."When looking at this issue, it's easy to see there are a lot of parties not doing the right thing. Our legislators are not making choices that would protect folks. Our landlords are not extending human compassion in the middle of a pandemic," Dunn said. "The purpose of today's action was to bring [lawyers] into the light and to show that they are as complicit as landlords in evictions and helping the cycle of displacement to be so destructive."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| 7 killed in Mexico's most violent state despite capo arrest Posted: 08 Aug 2020 03:04 PM PDT |
| Migrants adrift after camp at France-Italy border shut Posted: 07 Aug 2020 09:45 AM PDT  Sudanese migrant Soulaimen has been sleeping on the beach in the Italian border town of Ventimiglia for 10 days now. With his only shelter a sleeping bag and pasta meals donated by a charity, the 20-year-old is getting by as best he can after a transit camp run by the Italian Red Cross was ordered to stop welcoming new arrivals and cease operations. Now, the migrants who continue to flock to this town hoping to cross into France are on their own, faced with strengthened border police and an uncertain future.
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| The US Space Force is getting an official second in command Posted: 07 Aug 2020 02:31 PM PDT  A familiar face is set to become the service's first vice chief of space operations.
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| U.S. sanctions branded 'clowning actions' as Hong Kong vows it won't be intimidated Posted: 07 Aug 2020 09:06 PM PDT  Beijing's top representative office in Hong Kong said on Saturday that sanctions imposed by Washington on senior Hong Kong and Chinese officials were "clowning actions" that would not frighten or intimidate Chinese people. Separately, the Hong Kong government said the sanctions were "shameless and despicable" and represented "blatant and barbaric" interference in China's internal affairs. The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Luo Huining, the head of China's Liaison Office, as well as Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and other current and former officials that Washington accuses of curtailing political freedoms in the global financial hub.
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