| Trump says fear of 'low income housing' will bring 'the suburban housewife' to his side Posted: 12 Aug 2020 11:53 AM PDT  The president has attacked Joe Biden by trying to appeal to a community that no longer exists.
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| Russia is moving too fast with COVID-19 vaccine, U.S. experts warn Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:27 AM PDT  American vaccine experts are alarmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement that Russia will begin vaccinating against the coronavirus.
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| Portland protest clashes re-emerge near US courthouse Posted: 12 Aug 2020 11:54 PM PDT  Protesters and police clashed in downtown Portland in a demonstration that lasted into the predawn hours of Thursday, with some in the crowd setting a fire and exploding commercial grade fireworks outside a federal courthouse that's been a target in months of conflict for Oregon's largest city. Officers used tear gas to break up the crowd of several hundred people who gathered near the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, the neighboring Multnomah County Justice Center and a nearby police precinct station. Protesters hurled rocks, bottles and paint at officers during the demonstration that started Wednesday night and went into Thursday morning, Portland police said in a statement.
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| Critics say Portland protests have been co-opted by 'white spectacle,' but Black activists say they're staying focused on Black lives Posted: 12 Aug 2020 11:09 AM PDT  The president of the Portland NAACP called the demonstrations "white spectacle." Portland activists say the reality of the movement is more nuanced.
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| North Korea nuclear reactor site threatened by recent flooding, U.S. think-tank says Posted: 12 Aug 2020 07:58 PM PDT  Satellite imagery suggests recent flooding in North Korea may have damaged pump houses connected to the country's main nuclear facility, a U.S.-based think-tank said on Thursday. Analysts at 38 North, a website that monitors North Korea, said commercial satellite imagery from August 6-11 showed how vulnerable the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center's nuclear reactor cooling systems are to extreme weather events. The Korean peninsula has been hammered by one of the longest rainy spells in recent history, with floods and landslides causing damage and deaths in both North and South Korea.
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| School district nixes in-person learning after 400 teachers opt out Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:35 AM PDT  More than 400 teachers in New Jersey's Elizabeth School District have already opted out of in-person classes over health concerns.
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| Georgia shop that said it would charge only white people $20 booking fee apologizes Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:57 AM PDT  Black people and customers of color were exempt from the refundable fee.
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| AOC responds to apparent Democratic party convention speech snub: 'Eternity is in it' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:03 AM PDT  Firebrand lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at an alleged snub by the Democratic party after being given just 60 seconds to deliver a speech a next week's convention.AOC responded on Twitter by posting the poem 'I have only just a minute', written by the late Dr Benjamin E. Mays, an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader.
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| 'Antifa' website cited in conservative media attack on Biden is linked to — wait for it — Russia Posted: 12 Aug 2020 05:47 PM PDT  One America News chief White House correspondent Chanel Rion used a Russian-linked site to take a shot at the Democratic ticket.
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| Florida sheriff funds $35,000-a-month luxury office with 'the money we take from the bad guys' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:24 PM PDT  Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and more than a dozen of his top staff will work in the premium space while their main office is renovated.
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| Georgia governor to drop lawsuit over Atlanta mask mandate Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:45 AM PDT  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday said he's dropping a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta in a dispute over the city's requirement to wear masks in public and other restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Kemp had sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the City Council to block them from implementing restrictions at the local level, even as case counts and hospitalizations in the state soared. The Republican governor argued that local governments can't impose measures that are more or less restrictive than those in his statewide executive orders, which have strongly urged people to wear masks but not required them.
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| South Dakota Governor to get $400,000 security wall around residence Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:21 PM PDT  South Dakota officials said Wednesday they plan to build a security fence budgeted for $400,000 around the official governor's residence to protect Gov. Kristi Noem.
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| "Too many stories" of deaths, assault and harassment at Fort Hood Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:38 AM PDT  At least nine service members have been found dead at Fort Hood, and in more than half of those cases, foul play has not been ruled out.
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| Customers attack Chili’s hostess over socially distant seating, Louisiana police say Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:21 AM PDT  "I just cannot believe that this happened to me," the teen said.
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| US labels Confucius Institute a Chinese 'foreign mission' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:45 PM PDT  The Chinese government educational programmes are "advancing Beijing's global propaganda", the US says.
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| Postal workers are sounding the alarm as mail sorting machines are removed from processing facilities Posted: 13 Aug 2020 01:32 PM PDT  It's not just business as usual at the United States Postal Service.While President Trump is publicly saying he plans to block funding for the USPS so that Democrats can't achieve their goal of expanding mail-in voting across all states ahead of the November election, the Postal Service is also facing some internal changes.Vice News' Motherboard reported Thursday that USPS is quietly removing mail sorting machines — the very machines that are responsible for sorting ballots. There's no official explanation for the changes, and it's unclear why the machines would be removed rather than simply not used when not needed. The removals and planned removals are reportedly affecting several processing facilities across the U.S."It'll force the mail to be worked by human hands in sorting. Guarantees to STOP productivity," a Post Office source told The Washington Post's Jacqueline Alemany. "On top of cutting the overtime needed to run the machines, can you imagine the [overtime] needed to do this [the] old hard way?"Postal workers say equipment is often moved around or replaced, but not usually at such a rate, and not in such a way that would affect workers' ability to quickly process large quantities of mail. Local union officials have no idea what's going on. "I'm not sure you're going to find an answer for why," one union president told Vice, "because we haven't figured that out either."A USPS spokesperson said the move is routine. "Package volume is up, but mail volume continues to decline," said the spokesperson. "Adapting our processing infrastructure to the current volumes will ensure more efficient, cost effective operations." Since there is an expected influx of mail as Americans begin sending in ballots, postal workers urged voters not to wait until the last moment to avoid overwhelming the dwindling number of sorting machines. Read more at Vice News.More stories from theweek.com QAnon is suddenly everywhere — whether people realize it or not 5 funny cartoons about the promise and peril of Kamala Harris for vice president Senate adjourns until September with no coronavirus relief deal
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| A beloved lesbian baker in Detroit got a homophobic cake order. Here's why she made it anyway. Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:01 AM PDT  April Anderson, a Detroit pastry chef with national cred, was taken aback by a recent cake order that came into her Good Cakes and Bakes bakery.
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| How To Make Mrs. Fields Famous Cookies, Plus 28 More Copycat Dessert Recipes Posted: 13 Aug 2020 09:23 AM PDT |
| Turkey's president warns attack against Turkish ships will pay 'high price' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:55 PM PDT  President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that any attack on a Turkish ship exploring for oil and gas in disputed Mediterranean waters would incur a "high price" and suggested Turkey had already acted on that warning.
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| US says Iran briefly seizes oil tanker near Strait of Hormuz Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:27 PM PDT  The Iranian navy boarded and briefly seized a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S., the American military said Thursday. The U.S. military's Central Command published a black-and-white video showing what appeared to be special forces fast-roping down from a helicopter onto the MT Wila, whose last position appeared to be off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates near the city of Khorfakkan. The Iranian navy held the vessel for some five hours before releasing it Wednesday, said a U.S. military official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.
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| A grapefruit-scented perfume ingredient that's toxic to ticks and mosquitoes is the first new insect repellent to be approved in a decade Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:08 PM PDT  Nootkatone is naturally found in grapefruit rinds and certain cedar trees. The chemical shows promise as a defense against ticks and mosquitoes.
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| Bald eagle attacks $950 drone, sends it to bottom of Lake Michigan Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:12 PM PDT  In the battle for air supremacy, a bald eagle just proved that technology is no match for brute strength.
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| Air Force helicopter shot at from ground while flying over Virginia, crew injured Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:13 AM PDT  FBI investigating shot fired at UH-1N Huey flying over Virginia which injured a crew member.
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| The USPS is shutting down mail-sorting machines crucial for processing absentee ballots as the 2020 election looms Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:40 AM PDT  Over a dozen sorting machines — which can process 35,000 pieces of mail per hour — have reportedly been dismantled and removed in recent weeks.
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| Opinion: Sign of the times: A bishop bashes Biden and Catholics object (or yawn) Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:59 AM PDT  The reaction to a slam on Biden by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin is evidence America's Catholic voters no longer take their cues from the hierarchy.
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| Huge fire north of Los Angeles prompts evacuations Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:38 PM PDT  A fast-moving brush fire north of Los Angeles prompted mandatory evacuation orders for some 500 homes on Wednesday as firefighters battled the flames that had burned 10,000 acres by early evening, authorities said. Rapidly-spreading flames had scorched some 10,000 acres (4,050 hectares) within a little more than three hours, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. "Multiple agencies are battling a brush fire near the Lake Hughes area in the Angeles National Forest," the department said in a tweet.
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| Ghislaine Maxwell fails to obtain delay in unsealing documents Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:02 PM PDT  A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's request for a three-week delay in the unsealing of additional documents related to her dealings with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Lawyers for the British socialite, who faces criminal charges she aided Epstein's sexual abuses, had on Monday said "critical new information" had surfaced that could affect Maxwell's ability to obtain a fair trial, justifying the delay. Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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| Decades-old photo of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and a Confederate flag lives on and on Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:34 AM PDT  McConnell said he thinks the photograph was taken during his first term in the Senate at a Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting in Louisville.
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| Protesters in Minneapolis say they won't clear barricades around the George Floyd Memorial until the city leaders meet their 24 demands Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:50 PM PDT  Some of the demands include recalling Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman, and ending qualified immunity.
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| NRA lawsuits come amid changing face of American gun owners Posted: 13 Aug 2020 01:17 PM PDT |
| He used social media to pimp a 14-year-old in Miami airport hotels, cops say. He’s 17 Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:45 PM PDT  A 14-year-old runaway told cops she got sold for sex at hotels across the street from Miami International Airport up to five times a day, according to a police report. The first statutory rapist called himself "Slime," the girl said. He paid in Percocet.
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| Conservation groups condemn Trump administration plan to ease showerhead rules Posted: 13 Aug 2020 03:35 AM PDT  The Trump administration wants to change a 28-year-old energy law to allow showerheads to let more water flow.
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| Officials ignored warnings about Trump wall threat to endangered species Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Emails reveal experts at San Bernardino national wildlife refuge repeatedly sounded the alarm over grave threat to rare speciesStark warnings by federal scientists and wildlife experts about the grave threat posed by Donald Trump's border wall to rare and endangered species were repeatedly ignored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to documents seen by the Guardian.A cache of emails obtained using the Freedom of Information Act (Foia) by environmental groups reveal multiple efforts over several months by experts at the San Bernardino national wildlife refuge in south-eastern Arizona, to save rare desert springs and crystalline streams which provide the only US habitat for the endangered endemic Río Yaqui fish.Even before Trump's water-guzzling concrete barrier, the border region's water reserves were depleted due to prolonged drought linked to the climate crisis. The expansion of water-intensive cash crops and urban growth have also drained aquifers in the arid region, leaving several endangered and threatened species wholly reliant on the freshwater ponds found in the refuge.In an email sent last October, the long-serving refuge manager, Bill Radke, warned colleagues at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that the threat of groundwater depletion was a "dire emergency".It was around the same time that DHS contractors began pumping massive quantities of water from the aquifer relied upon by the refuge to mix concrete for construction of a 20-mile stretch of Trump's 30ft-high border wall.A few weeks later in early December, Radke described the water usage for the border wall as "the current greatest threat to endangered species in the south-west region" – referring to the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma.According to the emails, refuge staff began monitoring the impact and felt forced to take "life support actions", allowing three ponds to dry up in an effort to save some of the fish. "We are monitoring pond levels. We are developing/implementing contingency plans to protect at least a subset of the endangered fish population that once thrived on the refuge. We are hoping for the best, but are planning for the worst," wrote Radke.The documents suggest as much as 700,000 gallons of groundwater was being extracted per day to construct the barrier, and DHS officials ignored direct requests from the FWS to avoid drilling wells in a five-mile buffer around the refuge. "Instead contractors made plans to drill even closer to the refuge, drilling their second new well 480 feet east of [the refuge]," Radke wrote.> The DHS was warned that wall construction would drain artesian pools and kill wildlife … The DHS knew it and did it anyway> > Laiken JordahlThe multibillion-dollar border wall project has avoided proper environmental, scientific and cost oversight as the government suspended 28 federal laws relating to clean air and water, endangered species, public lands and the rights of Native Americans, in order to expedite construction despite multiple legal challenges."The DHS was warned that wall construction would drain artesian pools and kill wildlife, including endangered species. The DHS knew it and did it anyway. None of this would be legal if the environmental laws were still in place," said Laiken Jordahl, the borderlands campaigner at the not-for-profit Center for Biological Diversity which obtained the emails."These documents make it very clear: the survival or extinction of these endangered desert fish is entirely in this administration's hands."An FWS spokeswoman said larger pumps were now required to maintain pond levels and appropriate pond outflows due to a drop in pressure in the aquifer. "The border wall construction contractor has purchased and is currently installing the needed higher capacity pumps," she said.But, pumping water is only a temporary solution and the pumps are already too late for at least three ponds. A document obtained by Defenders of Wildlife, suggests water extraction was still having a detrimental impact to the refuge as late as May 2020.The endangered and protected species under threat from the lowered water levels include the Yaqui catfish, beautiful shiner, Yaqui chub, Yaqui topminnow, Chiricahua leopard frog and Mexican garter snake.The DHS insists that it continues to operate under the spirit of the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa), considered the cornerstone of environmental protection in the US, and takes into account public and expert comments.A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman told High Country News that "DHS and CBP have and continue to coordinate weekly, and more frequently on an as needed basis, to answer questions concerning new border wall construction projects and to address environmental concerns from the US Fish and Wildlife Service."
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| Teens and young adults who vape are 5 to 7 times more likely to get coronavirus, a new study found Posted: 12 Aug 2020 04:46 PM PDT  Health experts had warned that vaping could leave lungs susceptible to severe COVID-19 infections. Now they have the data to show it.
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| What Do All of Your Favorite Summer Beverages Have in Common? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 07:00 AM PDT |
| Ammonium Nitrate Blew Up Beirut. It Also Fuels Africa’s Most Dangerous Illegal Mines. Posted: 13 Aug 2020 01:43 AM PDT  ABUJA, Nigeria—The ammonium nitrate that exploded last week in Beirut—killing 154 people, injuring more than 5,000 and causing widespread destruction—was destined for Mozambique, a transit point for raw materials in the explosives trade, where shipments often end up in the hands of illegal Chinese-owned mining companies with dubious human rights records. Almost seven years ago, Fábrica de Explosivos de Moçambique (FEM), a Mozambican firm that produces explosives, ordered 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate from a Georgian company known as Savaro for the purpose of manufacturing explosives for mining companies. But the substance was transported in September 2013 on the Russian ship Rhosus, which docked in Beirut, where it tried to make more money by picking up several pieces of heavy machinery, and never made it to Mozambique, as Lebanese authorities impounded the cargo for failing to pay port fees.FEM, a company majority-owned by the Portuguese explosives company Moura Silva e Filhos, has come under intense scrutiny since the ammonium nitrate it ordered caused the blast in Beirut on Aug. 4. A spokesperson for the company admitted to CNN that FEM had ordered the substance from Georgia but was told several months later by the company that was supposed to facilitate the transfer to Mozambique that the vessel carrying ammonium nitrate had been seized in Lebanon and that the order was "not going to be delivered." As a result, according to the spokesperson, FEM "never paid for it." Beirut Government Was Warned Over Explosives in Port Two Weeks Before Deadly Blast: ReportBut FEM's claim that it didn't pay for the ammonium nitrate has been disputed by a number of sources. Baroudi and Partners, a Lebanese law firm representing the ship's crew, said in a statement on Aug. 5 that the substance was purchased by the International Bank of Mozambique (IBM) for FEM. An official in Mozambique's Justice Ministry who didn't want to be named also told The Daily Beast that IBM "did the transaction on behalf of FEM."Conflicting reports regarding the final destination of the ammonium nitrate have also raised questions regarding the transparency of the purchase. While the Mozambican port authorities said on Aug. 6 that the substance was meant to be transported from a port in the eastern city of Biera, where the Russian ship would have arrived from Beirut, to either Zambia or Zimbabwe, Mozambique's largest weekly newspaper, Savana, reported that the ammonium nitrate was actually supposed to be used for the manufacturing of explosives for the Brazilian mining company, Vale, which operates the country's largest coal mine in the western Tete province. FEM did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comments.The explosives market across Mozambique, as well as in neighboring Zambia and Zimbabwe, is huge, with dozens of mining firms depending on big companies like FEM for explosives. (Landlocked Zambia and Zimbabwe also depend on Mozambique's seaports for imports that come across the water). But the three countries are also the preferred places for a high number of illegal miners who, despite not being licensed to operate, are still able to obtain explosives from manufacturers on the black market.A Mozambican customs official informed The Daily Beast privately that explosives are usually transported by land from FEM offices in Mozambique to Zambia where they are sold to mining companies in the country. The company itself does have an office in Zambia and there are allegations that it sells explosives to illegal miners, including unscrupulous Chinese nationals."Explosives companies including FEM do not carry out serious background checks on some of these so-called mining companies," the official said. "Because of that, criminal companies, especially those owned by Chinese people, are mining in Zambia simply because they have explosives."FEM's presence in Africa is quite significant. The company, which specializes in the manufacture and application of explosives for commercial purposes, also has subsidiary companies in Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and commercial agreements in Malawi. But it is in Mozambique, where it has its head office, that its operations are most known.FEM is said to have sold explosives to Mineradora Industrial de Cassassole, a Chinese company operating in Tete province whose illegal mining operations led to the death of one of its workers two years ago.It was revealed after the worker—29-year-old Sakson Lobiano—died in 2018 that Mineradora Industrial de Cassassole, which was only licensed by Mozambican authorities to operate an open cast gold mine in Tete's northern Macanga district, decided to operate underground and opened an illegal shaft 90 meters deep, where Lobiano was killed. The miner died from inhaling dust and toxic particles from an explosion that was ignited by a Chinese co-worker, who had no training in underground work or license to handle explosives."We believe the company got those explosives from FEM," Alex Camacho, a local environmental activist in Tete, told The Daily Beast. "[FEM] is where virtually every mining company gets it explosives from."In its website, FEM boasts that it has been the main company "responsible for manufacturing and supplying the Mozambican explosives market" since its founding in 1955. It also noted that in the last two decades it has expanded to become a reference in the whole of southern Africa. But its growth has also come with accusations of negligence."That Mozambique has so many illegal miners who all have access to explosives should tell everyone that the manufacturers are letting their explosives get to the wrong hands," said Camacho who is individually campaigning against illegal mining in Tete. "In Mozambique, once you think about explosives, you think about FEM."Mozambique, the world's seventh-poorest country, has suffered years of illegal mining as well as logging of its natural forests by Chinese companies that take advantage of widespread corruption in the impoverished country to gain access.According to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international NGO with offices in London and Washington, D.C., Chinese companies in 2012 imported between 189,615 and 215,654 cubic meters of timber that had been illegally exported from Mozambique. The illegal action comprised a huge 48 percent of China's imports from the African nation.But it is in the mining sector that exploitation by Chinese-owned companies in southeast Africa have been mostly noted.There are several Chinese mining and explosives companies operating in Zambia and many of them have been accused of human rights abuses and negligence towards safety regulations.In 2005, 52 Zambian workers were killed at a Chinese-owned explosives factory near Chambeshi, a town in Zambia's copper belt. In 2010, Zambia charged two Chinese managers with attempted murder after they opened fire on protesting Zambian workers. Seven years later, Zambian authorities arrested 31 Chinese nationals for illegal mining in the copper belt.In Zimbabwe, Chinese-run mines have been dogged with several allegations of human rights violations of local workers.Early this year, local miners in Matabeleland South province protested their sacking by their Chinese employer, whom they also accused of constantly beating up workers. Their protest was followed by complaints in April by workers in another mining company of being underpaid and working without protective clothing as COVID-19 began to spread. Then came the shooting of two Zimbabwean mining workers in June by their Chinese boss during a row with workers over outstanding pay in central Zimbabwe."Chinese mining companies do what they like in southeastern Africa and no one can question them," said Camacho, the environmental activist. "It is sad that the government agencies that are supposed to regulate their activities are only concerned about the money they can generate from these companies."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get 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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| After the civil rights era, white Americans failed to support systemic change to end racism. Will they now? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:10 AM PDT  The first wave of the Black Lives Matter movement, which crested after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, had the support of less than half of white Americans.Given that Americans tend to have a very narrow definition of racism, many at that time were likely confused by the juxtaposition of Black-led protests, implying that racism was persistent, alongside the presence of a Black family in the White House. Barack Obama's presidency was seen as evidence that racism was in decline. The current, second wave of the movement feels different, in part because the past months of protests have been multiracial. The media and scholars have noted that whites' sensibilities have become more attuned to issues of anti-Black police violence and discrimination. After the first wave of the movement in 2014, there was little systemic change in response to demands by Black Lives Matter activists. Does the fact that whites are participating in the current protests in greater numbers mean that the outcome of these protests will be different? Will whites go beyond participating in marches and actually support fundamental policy changes to fight anti-Black violence and discrimination?As a scholar of political science and African American studies, I believe there are lessons from the civil rights movement 60 years ago that can help answer those questions. Principles didn't turn into policyThe challenges that Black Americans face today do not precisely mimic those of the 1960s, but the history is still relevant. During the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century, there was a concerted effort among Black freedom fighters to show white Americans the kinds of racial terrorism the average Black American lived under. Through the power of television, whites were able to see with their own eyes how respectable, nonviolent Black youth were treated by police as they sought to push the U.S. to live up to its creed of liberty and equality for all of its citizens.Monumental legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed, purportedly guaranteeing protection from racial discrimination in many public spaces and equal opportunity to register to vote and cast a ballot. Additionally, whites were increasingly likely to report attitudes that many would now view as nonracist over the following several decades. For example, white Americans were more willing to have a nonwhite neighbor. They were less likely to support ideas of biological racism or the idea that whites should always have access to better jobs over Blacks.But these changed values and attitudes among whites never fully translated into support for government policies that would bring racial equality to fruition for Blacks. White Americans remained uncommitted to integrating public schools, which has been shown to drastically reduce the so-called racial achievement gap. Whites never gave more than a modicum of support for affirmative action policies aimed to level the playing field for jobs and higher education.This phenomenon – the distance between what people say they value and what they are willing to do to live up to their ideals – is so common that social scientists have given it a name: the principle-policy gap.White Americans' direct witness of police brutality led to a shift in racial attitudes and the passage of significant legislation. But even these combined changes did not radically change the face of racial inequality in American society. Going backwardBy the 1970s and 1980s, political leaders would capitalize on whites' sentiments that efforts for racial equality had gone too far.That created an environment that allowed the retrenchment of civil rights-era gains. The Republican Party's so-called "Southern Strategy," which aimed to turn white Southern Democrats into Republican voters, was successful in consolidating the support of white Southerners through the use of racial dog whistles. And the War on Drugs would serve to disproportionately target and police already segregated Black communities.By the 1990s, racial disparities in incarceration rates had skyrocketed, schools began to resegregate, and federal and state policies that created residential segregation and the existing racial wealth gap were never adequately addressed. From understanding to action?Scholars have made efforts to reveal the intricate and structural nature of racism in the U.S. Their analyses range from showing how racial disparities across various domains of American life are intricately connected rather than coincidental; to highlighting the ways in which race-neutral policies like the GI Bill helped to set the stage for today's racial wealth gap; to explaining that America's racial hierarchy is a caste system. But my research shows that white Americans, including white millennials, have largely become accustomed to thinking about racism in terms of overt racial prejudice, discrimination and bigotry. They don't see the deeper, more intractable problems that scholars – and Black activists – have laid out. [Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]Consequently, it has taken a filmed incident of incendiary racism to awaken whites to the problems clearly identified by Black activists, just as it did for previous generations.My research also shows that individuals' understanding of the problem influences their willingness to support various policies. A big issue that our society faces, then, is that white Americans' understanding of racism is too superficial to prompt them to support policies that have the potential to lead to greater justice for Black Americans. Attitudes and policies don't matchSome have suggested that this second wave of the Black Lives Matter movement is the largest social movement in American history. These protests have led local representatives to publicly proclaim that Black Lives Matter; policymakers, government officials and corporations to decry and remove Confederate symbols and racist images; and congressional as well as local attempts to address police accountability.But, as after the civil rights era, the principle-policy gap seems to be reappearing. Attitudes among whites are changing, but the policies that people are willing to support do not necessarily address the more complex issue of structural racism. For example, polling reveals that people support both these protests and also the way that police are handling them, despite evidence of ongoing brutality. The polling also shows that the majority of Americans believe that police are more likely to use deadly force against Black Americans than against whites. But only one-quarter of those polled are willing to support efforts to reduce funding to police – a policy aimed to redistribute funds to support community equity. More whites are willing to acknowledge white racial privilege, but only about one in eight support reparations to Blacks.Americans may choose to dig deeper this time around. Some state legislators, for example, are attempting to leverage this moment to create more systemic changes beyond policing – in schools, judicial systems and health matters. But ultimately, Americans will have to overcome two intertwined challenges. First, they will have to learn to detect forms of racism that don't lend themselves to a mobile-phone filming. And they will have to recognize that dismantling centuries of oppression takes more than acknowledgment, understanding and well-meaning sentiment. It takes sacrifice and action.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * African Americans have long defied white supremacy and celebrated Black culture in public spaces * How the failures of the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty set the stage for today's anti-racist uprisingsCandis Watts Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Florida sheriff orders deputies not to wear masks, bans civilians in masks from office Posted: 12 Aug 2020 04:32 PM PDT  "Now, I can already hear the whining and just so you know I did not make this decision easily," Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said in a memo to staff.
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| Commissioner says local Democrats won’t stop him from tweeting about hydroxychloroquine Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:35 PM PDT  Even as a local Democratic Party official threatens to call for his removal from public office, Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola said he will not delete his Twitter account or stop sharing articles promoting the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.
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| $400 Unemployment Insurance Benefit: Who Qualifies, and When Does It Start? Posted: 12 Aug 2020 12:42 PM PDT |
| Trump says open schools. Teachers say safety first. As cases rise, unions may win. Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:08 PM PDT  Unions are battling Trump, Betsy DeVos and GOP leaders on how schools reopen, leaving little time to negotiate how to improve online learning.
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| U.S. Supreme Court allows easing of Rhode Island voting restrictions Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:42 AM PDT  The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday left in place a lower-court ruling that relaxes voting restrictions in Rhode Island during the coronavirus pandemic. The justices rejected an emergency request made by the Republican National Committee and the state's Republican Party. The unsigned order left intact a decision by Rhode Island-based U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy, who ruled on July 30 that the Republican groups had waited too late to intervene in the case.
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| Portland State disarms campus police after Black man's death Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:00 PM PDT  Portland State University said Thursday it will disarm its campus police force, more than two years after officers from the department shot and killed a Black man who was trying to break up a fight close to campus. Portland State President Stephen Percy said the decision to have officers patrol the campus unarmed is the first step in a broader policy to re-imagine safety at the state-funded university in the heart of the city. Activists had been calling for Portland State to disarm campus police long before Floyd's death.
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| Silvio Berlusconi reveals new 30-year-old girlfriend after multi-million pound split with partner Posted: 12 Aug 2020 10:13 AM PDT  Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has appeared to confirm he is in a new relationship with a much-younger woman, shortly after agreeing to a multi-million-euro settlement with his much-younger ex-girlfriend. Marta Fascina, 30, was photographed holding hands with Mr Berlusconi, 83, at his luxurious Villa Certosa in Sardinia, as they were about to board a yacht belonging to Mr Berlusconi's long-time friend Ennio Doris. The four-time premier and media magnate, who has dominated Italian politics for more than 20 years, split in March from his partner of 12 years, Francesca Pascale, 35. The pictures were first published by Italian tabloid "Chi," owned by the Berlusconi family, which has been taken as confirmation of the relationship. According to reports in Italian media, the relationship was consolidated during quarantine and they have already moved in together to Mr Berlusconi's residence. Ms Fascina, a former journalist and press officer for Mr Berlusconi's soccer club AC Milan, has been a member of the Italian parliament's lower house since 2018 in Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.
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| Bill Cosby files new appeal over sexual assault conviction Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:36 AM PDT  US comedian Bill Cosby, who is serving three and a half years in jail, has filed a new appeal against his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 15 years ago. In court documents filed Tuesday with Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, Cosby's lawyers argue that five women should not have been allowed to give evidence at his trial as witnesses. The attorneys also argue it was "fundamentally unfair" that deposition testimony Cosby gave in a civil case regarding his use of sedative drugs and his sexual behaviors in the 1970s was heard in court.
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