| Trump resumes campaign rallies and utters the unthinkable: 'If Biden wins...' Posted: 28 Aug 2020 05:50 PM PDT  One night after accepting the Republican nomination, Donald Trump resumed campaigning for reelection as though the coronavirus pandemic was a thing of the past, rallying hundreds of supporters at New Hampshire airport hangar.
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| If the police officer who shot Jacob Blake can prove he feared an 'imminent risk of death or great bodily harm,' his shooting could be legally justified Posted: 29 Aug 2020 10:45 AM PDT  An officer shot Jacob Blake while he had his back turned toward them. If they reasonably feared for their lives, it may be legally justified.
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| Kentucky AG has received ballistics in Breonna Taylor case Posted: 30 Aug 2020 09:40 AM PDT  Kentucky's attorney general has received a long-awaited FBI ballistics report in the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor. Attorney General Daniel Cameron tweeted Sunday that there is additional analysis needed now that the report is in his hands, and there would be no announcement on the investigation this week. "We continue to work diligently to follow the facts and complete the investigation," Cameron tweeted.
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| Counter-protester who pulled a gun on Black Lives Matter protesters in Florida after a fight erupted won't be charged Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:20 PM PDT  A counter-protester in Tallahassee, Florida won't be charged for pulling a gun on BLM protesters as officials said he was "lawfully defending himself."
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| Hundreds of protesters arrested by Belarusian police as 100,000 rally against Lukashenko Posted: 30 Aug 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Tens of thousands of opposition supporters marched through the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Sunday calling for an end to strongman Alexander Lukashenko's rule, despite heavily armed police and troops blocking streets and detaining dozens of demonstrators. Protests have now entered a third week since the disputed presidential election on August 9 in which Mr Lukashenko claimed victory, while opposition rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said she was the true winner. An AFP journalist and local media estimated that more than 100,000 people came to Sunday's protest, equalling the scale of the rallies on previous weekends, the largest demonstrations the country has seen since independence from the USSR.
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| State report shows hundreds test positive for COVID-19 at Florida schools in August Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:13 PM PDT  The Florida Department of Health accidentally released a report on COVID-19 outbreaks at schools across the state — from daycare centers to colleges — and found that nearly 900 students and staffers had tested positive during a two-week period in August as schools had just begun or readied to reopen.
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| Hour by hour: Hurricane Laura raged outside my front door. I hunkered down for the night. Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:28 AM PDT  At night, you can't see tornadoes coming. You can't see how far the trees bend. You can't sleep because of the sounds of the storm.
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| Fact check: Biden tax plan would raise rates for those who make more than $400K, corporations Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:09 PM PDT  The claim that families who make $75,000 would see their tax rate double under the Democratic nominee's plan is false.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may have a lot to do with Joe Kennedy's primary struggles Posted: 30 Aug 2020 08:28 AM PDT  Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) could soon be out of politics, and an unlikely colleague may have something to do with it, Politico reports.Kennedy is challenging Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in the statewide Democratic primary for Markey's seat, which he's held since 2013. Politico notes that Kennedy tries to hit the 74-year-old Markey by criticizing his support for the 1994 crime bill and the Iraq War when he was in the House, both of which would seemingly put him in trouble with the progressive left. But the incumbent has maintained a lead over his 39-year-old challenger in large part thanks to an army of young voters, who, with a push from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), view Markey as key to the climate change movement.Mary Ann Marsh, a Boston-based Democratic consultant, told Politico that Ocasio-Cortez, the Sunrise Movement, and Justice Democrats have "allowed this remarkable makeover" of the veteran lawmaker who has been in Congress for 44 years, turning him into the "darling of the climate change warriors." Without Ocasio-Cortez, she said, "I think it would've been a much harder effort to make him into the Ed Markey people see in this race, which is very different from the Ed Markey people in Massachusetts have seen in 44 years." Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathingly funny cartoons about the Republican National Convention Air travel in the coronavirus era Biden's latest ad puts Trump's weirdest moments and empty rallies to a Bad Bunny song
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| The real threats to American law and order are Trump's craven enablers Posted: 29 Aug 2020 10:00 PM PDT  The president railed against 'violent anarchists, agitators and criminals' but he surrounds himself with lawless lackeysOne week ago, Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha, Wisconsin, police department, fired at least seven shots at the back of a Black man named Jacob Blake as he opened his car door, leaving the 29-year-old father of five probably paralyzed from the waist down.After protests erupted, self-appointed armed militia or vigilante-type individuals rushed to Kenosha, including Kyle Rittenhouse, a white 17-year-old who traveled there and then, appearing on the streets with an AR-15 assault rifle, allegedly killed two people and wounded a third.This is pure gold for a president without a plan, a party without a platform, and a cult without a purpose other than the abject worship of Donald J Trump.To be re-elected Trump knows he has to distract the nation from the coronavirus pandemic that he has flagrantly failed to control – leaving more than 180,000 Americans dead, tens of millions jobless and at least 30 million reportedly hungry.So he's counting on the reliable Republican dog-whistle. "Your vote," Trump said in his speech closing the Republican convention Thursday night, "will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens.""We will have law and order on the streets of this country," Vice-President Mike Pence declared the previous evening, warning "you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America."Neither Trump nor Pence mentioned the real threats to law and order in America today, such as gun-toting agitators like Rittenhouse, who, perhaps not coincidentally, occupied a front-row seat at a Trump rally in Des Moines in January.Pence lamented the death of federal officer Dave Patrick Underwood, "shot and killed during the riots in Oakland, California", earlier this year, implying he was killed by protesters. In fact, Underwood was shot and killed by an adherent of the boogaloo boys, an online extremist movement that's trying to ignite a race war.Such groups have found encouragement in a president who sees "very fine people" supporting white supremacy.The threat also comes from conspiracy theorists like Marjorie Taylor Greene, the recently nominated Republican candidate for Georgia's 14th congressional district and promoter of QAnon, whose adherents believe Trump is battling a cabal of "deep state" saboteurs who worship Satan and traffic children for sex. Trump has praised Greene as a "future Republican star" and claimed that QAnon followers "love our country".And from people like Mary Ann Mendoza, a member of Trump's campaign advisory board, who was scheduled to speak at the Republican convention until she retweeted an antisemitic rant about a supposed Jewish plan to enslave the world's peoples and steal their land.> Since Trump promised he would hire 'the best people', 14 Trump aides, donors and advisers have been indicted or imprisonedClearly the threat also comes from hotheaded, often racist police officers who fire bullets into the backs of Black men and women or kneel on their necks so they can't breathe. Needless to say, there was little mention at the Republican convention of Jacob Blake, and none of George Floyd or Breonna Taylor.And the threat comes from Trump's own lackeys who have brazenly broken laws to help him attain and keep power. Since Trump promised he would only hire "the best people", 14 Trump aides, donors and advisers have been indicted or imprisoned.Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W Giuliani – who ranted at the Republican convention about rioting and looting in cities with Democratic mayors – has repeatedly met with the pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach, whom American intelligence has determined is "spreading claims about corruption … to undermine former Vice President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party".In addition, federal prosecutors are investigating Giuliani's business dealings in Ukraine with two men arrested in an alleged campaign finance scheme.Trump's new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, who had been a major Trump campaign donor before taking over the post office, is being sued by six states and the District of Columbia for allegedly seeking to "undermine" the postal service as millions of Americans plan to vote by mail during the pandemic.Not to forget the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who spoke to the Republican convention while on an official trip to the Middle East, in apparent violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits officials of the executive branch other than the president and vice-president from engaging in partisan politics.You want the real threat to American law and order? It's found in these Trump enablers and bottom-dwellers. They are the inevitable excrescence of Trump's above-the-law, race-baiting, me-first presidency. It is from the likes of them that the rest of America is in serious need of protection.
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| In wake of shootings, Kenosha mayor backs police brass despite calls for resignations Posted: 28 Aug 2020 06:11 PM PDT  Kenosha, Wis., Mayor John Antaramian told reporters Friday that he has no intention of requesting the resignations of Police Chief Daniel Miskinis or County Sheriff David Beth, despite calls from various civil rights groups for both men to step down.
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| A teen activist in New Jersey received a $2,500 bill to pay for police presence at a Black Lives Matter protest she organized Posted: 29 Aug 2020 08:51 AM PDT  Mayor Mario Kranjac of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, said the bill covered police presence and their overtime hours.
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| Indian forces clash with Kashmir Muslims marking holy month Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:02 PM PDT  Indian forces opened fire with shotgun pellets and tear gas Saturday on a procession by hundreds of Muslims in troubled Kashmir, injuring dozens of people who had ignored a ban on religious gatherings, witnesses said.
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| Kate Bedingfield on Biden's plans to return to campaign trail, civil unrest's impact on race for White House Posted: 30 Aug 2020 06:35 AM PDT  Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield joins Chris Wallace with insight on 'Fox News Sunday.'
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| Op-Ed: Kamala Harris' vice presidential run is a campaign to be America's second Black president Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Black grievances put Harris on the ticket; her's is the face of leadership the country is demanding now.
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| Report: New York tenants were not aware they would be featured at the Republican National Convention Posted: 28 Aug 2020 06:02 PM PDT  The tenants were interviewed by a HUD official, they said. The RNC was criticized for blurring the lines between the government and partisan politics.
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| "His politics are appalling": Steve Mnuchin's family speaks out in disgust over his fealty to Trump Posted: 30 Aug 2020 11:01 AM PDT  His family has not only criticized him but publically accused him of racism
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| 'Deeply reckless': Critics slam leaked police memo about Breonna Taylor Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:06 AM PDT  The memo was written several weeks after Taylor's death and includes details that weren't provided to the judge in the search warrant application.
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| An army dog who charged through a hail of machine-gun fire and tackled an Al-Qaeda fighter is to receive the animal equivalent of a Medal of Honor Posted: 30 Aug 2020 08:22 AM PDT  The bravery of the dog, Kuno, fighting with the special forces, swung the battle during the British raid in Afghanistan.
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| 3-year-old girl safe after being lofted by kite in Taiwan Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:45 AM PDT  A 3-year-old girl in Taiwan was reported safe after becoming caught in the strings of a kite and lifted several meters into the air. The unidentified girl was taking part in a kite festival Sunday in the seaside town of Nanlioao when she was caught up by a giant, long-tailed orange kite.
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| Mural of slain Philadelphia Police Sgt. Robert Wilson III vandalized with graffiti Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:41 PM PDT  A mural in West Philadelphia that honors a slain Philadelphia police sergeant has been vandalized.
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| Austrian law extends citizenship to descendants of Jewish refugees Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:38 AM PDT  Descendants of Jewish refugees expelled from Austria under Nazi rule can apply for Austrian citizenship under a new law that goes into effect Tuesday.About 120,000 Jews living in Austria fled persecution after Nazi Germany annexed its neighbor in 1938, with many going to the United States and the United Kingdom. Most refugees, The Observer notes, became naturalized citizens in their new countries, but post-war Austria banned dual citizenship, meaning those who left were considered foreigners in their homeland. Eventually, in 1993, former refugees were able to reclaim their Austrian citizenship, but descendants were left out, preventing the country from restoring its pre-war Jewish community, which numbered 200,000. That's unlikely to happen even now since the applicants will be dual citizens and won't necessarily reside in Austria. For instance, a major factor for eligible U.K. citizens, per the Observer, will likely be the desire to regain European Union citizenship post-Brexit through the program.Still, campaigners believe the law represents both historic justice and could potentially help sway change in Austria, where some citizens believe anti-minority sentiment is on the rise. Bini Guttman, the Austrian president of the European Union of Jewish Students, said the law can "help deliver justice" for the applicants' "successors here and for the future" if they exercise their voting rights.Hannah Lessing, secretary general of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, applauded the law, but said "it can never truly make amends for the Holocaust." Read more at The Observer.More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathingly funny cartoons about the Republican National Convention Air travel in the coronavirus era Biden's latest ad puts Trump's weirdest moments and empty rallies to a Bad Bunny song
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| German govt condemns 'unacceptable' attempt to storm Reichstag Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:41 AM PDT  The German government Sunday slammed the "unacceptable" behaviour of protesters during a mass rally against coronavirus restrictions in which hundreds were arrested and an attempt was made to storm the Reichstag parliament building.
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| Filmmaker Michael Moore warns of 2016 redux, says Trump support is ‘OFF THE CHARTS’ Posted: 30 Aug 2020 06:28 AM PDT  This is not an affirmation of celebration from a Donald Trump supporter, but a warning from filmmaker Michael Moore. The Oscar-winning documentary director posted on social media that signs are pointing to a Trump reelection come November. Moore, an avid critic of the president and advocate of Sen. Bernie Sanders, took to his Facebook page to let his followers know that history may be repeating itself as the president's poll numbers rise in swing states that will be critical to winning the electoral college.
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| Chicago looting proves Black America deserves reparations — here's why Posted: 30 Aug 2020 09:26 AM PDT  While there is a good chance this month's episode was fueled by fake rumors online, it showcases the inequities that belie Chicago's standing as one of America's liberal bastions.
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| A couple received an anonymous note calling their unpainted house an "eyesore," then they received over $48,000 to help with repairs Posted: 30 Aug 2020 12:49 PM PDT  A couple that has suffered multiple health issues received a note shaming them for their unpainted house. A GoFundMe page raised money for repairs.
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| Rally supporting police draws scores to downtown Kenosha Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:08 PM PDT  Scores of police supporters gathered Sunday in downtown Kenosha where protesters have been demonstrating against police brutality since the shooting of Jacob Blake last weekend. A Kenosha police officer shot Blake in the back Aug. 23, leaving the 29-year-old Black man paralyzed. Protesters have marched in Kenosha every night since Blake's shooting, with some protests devolving into unrest that damaged buildings and vehicles.
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| French lieutenant-colonel stationed at a NATO base in Italy charged with spying for Russia Posted: 30 Aug 2020 04:01 AM PDT  A senior French military officer has been charged with espionage for allegedly passing top secret documents to Russian intelligence, Florence Parly, the defence minister, said on Sunday. The lieutenant-colonel, who has not been named, is stationed at a NATO base in Italy. He was detained by France's General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), the equivalent of MI5, 10 days ago. The officer was about to return to Italy after a holiday in France, Europe 1 radio reported, and is being held at La Santé prison in Paris. Ms Parly said the defence ministry had referred the case to public prosecutors. She declined to give details about the nature of the information allegedly given to Russia, saying the matter was sub judice. "We have taken all necessary measures. Now justice must be allowed to take its course while respecting the secrecy of the investigation… It is for the judicial system to decide what he is guilty of and whether he is guilty." If convicted, the officer risks life imprisonment and a €750,000 (£669,000) fine. The case is likely to embarrass France in the eyes of its western allies if security failings that could potentially compromise NATO are revealed. It comes after two former agents of France's external intelligence service, the DGSE, were handed prison sentences of 12 and 8 years last month for spying for China. The highly sensitive trial was held behind closed doors and little is known about the case against the agents, who had already retired when they were charged three years ago. One of them, named as Henri M, served as the DGSE's Beijing station chief in the 1990s. He was recalled after starting an affair with the French ambassador's Chinese interpreter. After his retirement, he returned to China in 2003 and married the former interpreter. The couple took up residence on Hainan Island, off China's southern coast. Now 73, he was arrested in France in 2017. Around the same time the other agent, named as Pierre-Marie H, 68, was arrested at Zurich airport carrying a large amount of cash after meeting a Chinese contact on an island in the Indian Ocean. Under French law, the full names of former intelligence agents may not be made public.
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| Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp is resisting the city's universal coronavirus testing plan Posted: 30 Aug 2020 05:08 AM PDT  Pro-democracy activists, including a health care workers union, in Hong Kong on Sunday called for a boycott of the city's universal coronavirus testing plan, Reuters reports.The opposition is not unconcerned with the virus, but is instead worried by the fact that medical staff from mainland China are supposed to assist with carrying out the plan at a time when many Hong Kong residents believe Beijing is stripping away their freedoms and enhancing its already strong grasp on the city, especially after the passing of a controversial national security law earlier this year and the postponement of September's legislative elections.The union, the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, was formed during last year's pro-democracy protests and has 20,000 members. It believes universal testing is not an efficient use of resources, arguing that focused testing is the better play for Hong Kong at this point during the pandemic, prompting suspicions about ulterior motives. Union leader Winnie Yu said it's "clear to see the government has one and only one goal," which is "to use the pandemic to achieve their own political aims" of doing "whatever they can to please the central government of China."Well-known activist Joshua Wong supports the boycott and agreed that the government's plan is faulty. Per Reuters, Wong believes a full border closure would be more effective.Neither the Beijing-backed city government, nor the Chinese Communist Party, took the criticism well. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said it's an attempt to "smear the central government," while Chinese state media considers the critics ungrateful. Read more at Reuters.More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathingly funny cartoons about the Republican National Convention Air travel in the coronavirus era Biden's latest ad puts Trump's weirdest moments and empty rallies to a Bad Bunny song
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| Proving "a different world is possible," ExxonMobil dropped From Dow Jones after 92-year run Posted: 29 Aug 2020 11:00 AM PDT  "Big Oil has fallen. Our job is to make sure they don't take us down with them."
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| Africa's week in pictures: 21-27 August 2020 Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:14 PM PDT  A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond.
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| New Yahoo News-YouGov Poll: Biden’s lead over Trump shrinks to 6 points after the RNC — his smallest margin in months Posted: 29 Aug 2020 09:44 AM PDT  A Yahoo News-YouGov poll shows Joe Biden's lead over President Trump shrinking to 6 points — his smallest margin in nearly two months.
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| Arkansas sheriff who was secretly recorded using racial slurs reluctantly resigned and insisted he's not racist Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:32 PM PDT  An Arkansas sheriff who was secretly recorded using racial slurs reluctantly resigned Friday after saying in a hearing he is "by no means a racist."
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| A former Department of Homeland Security official said Trump is letting right-wing extremists 'start a race war' Posted: 29 Aug 2020 01:16 PM PDT  Domestic terrorism expert Elizabeth Neumann told Yahoo News those at the RNC who cast protesters as a dangerous threat were putting on a "sideshow."
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| Home smashed: For one family, Hurricane Laura the 3rd strike Posted: 29 Aug 2020 10:02 PM PDT  In 2005, Rita pushed a foot of floodwaters into his white, wooden home in Hackberry, Louisiana, a tiny Cameron Parish community 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gulf of Mexico. Laura outstripped them both. A retired welder who worked at many of the refineries that dot the Louisiana coast, the 62-year-old Beard climbed through the debris, laboring with two artificial knees.
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| SNP ministers demand Boris Johnson drop 'UK' and 'Britain' from nationwide cultural festival Posted: 30 Aug 2020 06:04 AM PDT  SNP ministers have demanded that Boris Johnson drop the words 'Britain' or 'UK' from the branding of a nationwide cultural festival being planned for 2022. Whitehall insiders said the Scottish Government had also objected to 'British' being included in title or promotional material for the celebration of the "very best of modern Britain." The row is said to have delayed the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) commissioning around £3 million of work from creative agencies tasked with drawing up the material. UK Government sources said the SNP's stance was "incredibly petty and hugely frustrating", with the festival expected to give Scotland's struggling cultural sector a £12 million boost. Talks with the Scottish Government are now said to have stalled over planning for the event, which was envisaged as a successor to the hugely popular 1951 Festival of Britain.
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| Japan, U.S. defence chiefs oppose bid to alter status of Asian waters Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:34 AM PDT  Japan's Defence Minister Taro Kono said on Saturday he had agreed with his U.S. counterpart Mark Esper that both countries opposed any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the key waterways of the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Kono shared his view with the U.S. defense secretary at a time when the United States and China are at loggerheads over issues ranging from technology and human rights to Chinese military activities in the disputed South China Sea. A thorny issue in China's ties with Japan is Beijing's claim to a group of tiny East China Sea islets controlled by Tokyo.
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| School's back. But for some countries, so is the coronavirus. Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:30 AM PDT  "Children should not become the losers of the pandemic," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
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| Denied permits, Palestinians raze own homes in Jerusalem Posted: 29 Aug 2020 07:05 PM PDT  Palestinian Alaa Borqan preferred to tear down his own house in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem after a court ruled that it was constructed illegally and must be demolished.
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| Kenosha shooting: Hundreds protest in Raleigh and Portland; 2 officers tried to use stun guns on Jacob Blake Posted: 28 Aug 2020 09:02 PM PDT  Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged in the killing of two people at protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, did not appear in court Friday.
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| Kim Klacik: President Trump is producing real results for the Black community Posted: 30 Aug 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Republican congressional candidate Kim Klacik joins Maria Bartiromo on 'Sunday Morning Futures.'
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| House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff says it's a 'falsehood' pushed by Trump that he leaked confidential information amid halt to election briefings Posted: 30 Aug 2020 10:29 AM PDT  Schiff denied he or his staff have leaked confidential information as intelligence officials announced a halt to in-person election security briefings.
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| Normalcy returning to Pakistan's monsoon-drenched Karachi Posted: 29 Aug 2020 09:31 AM PDT  Normalcy began slowly returning to Pakistan's financial capital Karachi on Saturday after flood waters from days of monsoon rains that killed 47 people receded, enabling relief work in the city of 15 million. The heavy rains hit the southern port city Aug. 23, forcing people to evacuate to other areas of Karachi. It downed power lines, causing widespread outages leaving large numbers of people without electricity and mobile phone service.
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