| 'The Gotaway': Online video produced and posted by the Border Patrol spreads fear of migrants Posted: 04 Sep 2020 05:55 PM PDT  According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official, "The Gotaway" video was produced "in an effort to highlight criminal apprehensions across the Southwest border."
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| Why a herd immunity approach to COVID-19 could be a deadly disaster Posted: 05 Sep 2020 08:30 AM PDT  Since the coronavirus pandemic began, herd immunity has been floated as a possible solution, but the controversial strategy is considered downright dangerous by many experts.
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| Jacob Blake speaks from his hospital bed: 'Change your lives out there' Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:46 AM PDT  A minute-long video was posted to Twitter on Saturday by Blake's attorney, Benjamin Crump in which Jacob Blake urged viewers to value their lives.
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| Kamala Harris walks back Biden's call for a nationwide mandate to wear a mask Posted: 06 Sep 2020 09:09 AM PDT  Instead of a nationwide mandate as initially suggested, the Biden administration would push a "standard" to wear a mask, Harris said.
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| Facebook takes down Patriot Prayer to stop 'violent social militias' Posted: 05 Sep 2020 02:01 AM PDT  Facebook has removed an American far right organisation called Patriot Prayer which is based in Portland and its founder Joey Gibson from its platform.The group has organised pro-gun rallies in support of Donald Trump and far right protests in liberal areas which have been attended by both far right groups such as Proud Boys and counter-protesters.
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| Northeastern University Dismisses 11 Students, Without Returning Their $36,500 Tuition Fees, for Violating COVID-19 Rules Posted: 06 Sep 2020 09:18 AM PDT  The Boston university dismissed the students they were caught gathering at a hotel
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| Rwanda's president says 'Hotel Rwanda' hero must stand trial Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:52 AM PDT  Rwanda's president says that the man portrayed as a hero in the film "Hotel Rwanda" will stand trial for allegedly supporting rebel violence. President Paul Kagame, appearing on national television Sunday, did not explain how Paul Rusesabagina was brought to Rwanda where he has been held in custody for more than a week. Rusesabagina is credited with saving 1,200 lives during Rwanda's 1994 genocide by letting people shelter in the hotel he was managing during the mass killings.
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| Mexico says 122,765 extra people died during pandemic in 'excess deaths' study Posted: 05 Sep 2020 05:46 PM PDT  Mexico has recorded 122,765 deaths more than would be expected during the pandemic up to August, the health ministry said on Saturday in a report on excess mortality rates, suggesting Mexico's true coronavirus toll could be much higher. Mexico has recorded 67,326 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 629,409 cases, the world's fourth highest death toll from the virus that has infected more than 26 million people around the globe. Mexico's government has often said the real number of infected people is likely to be significantly higher than the confirmed cases due to the low levels of testing.
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| Hong Kong police swoop on postponed poll protests Posted: 06 Sep 2020 05:34 PM PDT  Nearly 300 people were arrested by Hong Kong police on Sunday as riot officers swooped on democracy protesters opposed to the postponement of local elections.
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| Typhoon Maysak: North Korea vows to punish officials over 'casualties' Posted: 05 Sep 2020 04:11 AM PDT  The ruling party says local officials are responsible for "dozens of casualties" in Typhoon Maysak,
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| Will police be charged in Daniel Prude's death? This evidence may be the deciding factor Posted: 06 Sep 2020 09:36 AM PDT  Video of Daniel Prude's restraint and subsequent autopsy likely will be the centerpiece of decisions about whether officers will be charged.
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| McGahn's role in the Mueller investigation comes into focus in book by reporter Michael Schmidt Posted: 05 Sep 2020 11:05 AM PDT  A new book by New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt describes the "extraordinary collision of events" that led Don McGahn to become a witness against President Trump during the Mueller investigation while still serving as White House counsel.
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| 150 campers trapped in a California national forest by raging wildfires as Blackhawk helicopters fly to the rescue Posted: 06 Sep 2020 02:51 AM PDT  The campers took shelter from the inferno at the Mammoth Pool Reservoir in Sierra National Park. Many have been reported injured.
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| Schools in Japan are back in session amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 05 Sep 2020 07:38 AM PDT  There's nothing typical about school now for students at an elementary school in northeast Tokyo.
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| The Mask-Defying Church at Center of Disastrous Maine Wedding Linked to 3 Deaths, 144 Virus Cases Posted: 05 Sep 2020 11:52 AM PDT  Maine's biggest COVID-19 outbreak is linked to a wedding officiated by the pastor of a distancing-defying church who says masks are part of a "socialistic platform." Now more than 144 COVID-19 patients have been linked to the event, and three people are dead.Todd Bell is pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, Maine. Famous for flying between ministries in multiple states on his private plane (God "burdened" his heart to do airplane ministry, he says), Bell flew in to officiate a rural Maine wedding on August 7.That wedding is the nexus of 144 COVID-19 cases, including three that resulted in deaths, Maine officials said Friday. One of the deceased, an 83-year-old woman, did not even attend the wedding, but contracted the virus from a guest. None of this appears to be stopping Bell from doing business as usual in his church, calling on worshippers to trust "God, not government" as the pandemic progresses.The Fall of Florida's Biggest Sham 'Church' Peddling Bleach as a 'Sacrament' The August 7 wedding in Millinocket, Maine was a super-spreader event. Sixty-five guests attended the event at the Big Moose Inn, a violation of the state's limit on large gatherings. Officiated by Bell, the celebration went on to sicken guests, some of whom in turn passed it on to people in particularly vulnerable communities. COVID-19 outbreaks at a local rehabilitation center, a senior living facility, a county jail, and a school have all been traced back to the wedding. The number of cases linked to the event has doubled in the past week.One of the victims, 83-year-old Theresa Dentremont, did not attend the wedding, but caught COVID-19 from someone who had. A mother of six, Dentremont was described in an obituary as the "anchor of her family" and someone who was "unwaveringly positive and...always found the good in every person and every situation."Six Calvary Baptist families also attended the wedding, Bell confirmed in a sermon last Sunday, reported by the Penobscot Bay Pilot. But despite a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Calvary Baptist-goers should voluntarily quarantine, the church was still in full unmasked operation last week.In his sermon, Bell told worshippers to stay home if they were sick, but launched into a conspiratorial sermon denouncing vaccines and repudiating anti-coronavirus measures. He also spent part of the sermon lashing out at people who had criticized him on social media, including a person who, after observing one of his posts about flying his private plane, speculated that Bell was going to spread the disease at a casino elsewhere in Maine.Bell quipped that a casino would be a good place to deliberately spread COVID-19. "Gambling has killed more people and ruined more homes and destroyed more things in our society almost than liquor or pot or pornography," Bell said, according to the Boston Globe. "Gambling is wicked."Although in his sermon Bell said he hoped the media was listening, the church has since removed all its live streamed sermons from YouTube and pulled its website. The church's phone number, when called, returns a message saying the number is not currently accepting calls. On Twitter, the church retweeted a person who claimed Bell was unfairly under attack."Please pray for Pastor Todd Bell, his family and his church. The media and many others have been relentlessly attacking him for having church amidst the rise of COVID cases in Maine," the tweet reads. "Pastors are being made out to be enemies of the people by media. We must stand together."> ������������ pic.twitter.com/DP9yK9Dmfb> > — Calvary Baptist Church (@CalvarySanford) August 23, 2020That claim—that pastors are being portrayed as enemies—might be harsh toward the rest of the state's religious leaders, most of whom have reportedly not had COVID-19 outbreaks in their congregations. Maine's WGME reported that the overwhelming majority of Maine religious congregations have taken steps to prevent the disease's spread, with some of them moving outdoors, implementing distancing for indoor services, or offering online sermons.Some groups affiliated with Calvary Baptist have distanced themselves from the church. A nonprofit shelter that used the church to distribute food to low-income locals relocated to an outdoor site this week. Beneficiaries of the food program are especially susceptible to COVID-19, the program's director told WGME, noting that 85 percent of the shelter's clients had health complications that could exacerbate COVID-19's worst effects.Another local told WGME that Calvary Baptist missionaries had actively proselytized after the wedding, even trying to enter her home without masks."They came in without masks and asked to come in even further," the woman told the news station. "They asked twice if I was sure they couldn't come into my living room. When I refused they forced a pamphlet at me."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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| Deal likely to fund U.S. government to early December, Mnuchin says Posted: 06 Sep 2020 06:35 AM PDT  U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday said a deal between the White House and Congress would fund the federal government through the beginning of December and that details of the spending bill should be finalized by week's end. Mnuchin and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had agreed to extend funding, according to a Democratic aide, but details on the bill have yet to emerge. "We're going to move forward with a clean CR (continuing resolution), hopefully through the beginning of December," Mnuchin told reporters at the White House, adding: "I hope by the end of the week we'll have something firmed up."
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| Armed guards provided for threatened lesbian couple Posted: 05 Sep 2020 04:03 PM PDT  Their love story made headlines as they fought to get protection from their own families.
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| From spit hoods to ketamine injections: The controversial police tactics highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:15 AM PDT  The nationwide protests of the Black Lives Matter movement and has charged the debate about how police enforce law and order.
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| Lawyer of accused Kenosha shooter resigns from defense fund Posted: 05 Sep 2020 01:12 PM PDT  A lawyer representing a 17-year-old charged with shooting three people during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has resigned from his position with a defense fund that has raked in more than $700,000 to defend his client and conservative causes. Attorney John Pierce is defending Kyle Rittenhouse against intentional homicide charges for shooting two people to death and wounding a third during a night of unrest last month over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was left paralyzed from the waist down. Pierce said he resigned from the #FightBack Foundation fund, which has raised money to defend Rittenhouse, to avoid any "appearance of conflict," USA Today reported.
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| Coronavirus live updates: San Diego State students forced indoors; Kentucky sets weekly records for most deaths, cases; US nears 190K deaths Posted: 06 Sep 2020 02:50 PM PDT  Thousands of San Diego State University students have been ordered to stay indoors over Labor Day weekend. Speeding tickets soar. Latest news.
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| Race to assess damage to stricken oil tanker off Sri Lanka Posted: 06 Sep 2020 01:48 AM PDT  An international team of salvage experts arrived in Sri Lanka Sunday to assess damage to a fire-stricken oil tanker off the east coast, officials said, as fear mounted for an environmental disaster if there is a leak.
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| "Abject failure": Biden slams Trump on Venezuela, Cuba policy Posted: 06 Sep 2020 11:23 AM PDT  "Venezuelan people are worse off, living in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. The country's no closer to a free election," said Biden.
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| South Korea posts fewest COVID-19 cases in three weeks after tightening distancing Posted: 04 Sep 2020 07:19 PM PDT  South Korea recorded 168 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Friday, posting the lowest daily tally in three weeks after imposing stricter social distancing rules to blunt a second wave of infections. The daily tallies have been hovering below 200 over the past three days after peaking at 441 late last week, a sign that tougher social distancing curbs implemented last Sunday have begun taking effect. The measures included an unprecedented step of curbing the operation of eateries in the Seoul metropolitan area, where the current spread is concentrated, banning onsite dining after 9 p.m. and limiting coffee and bakery franchises to takeout and delivery all day.
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| Ahmaud Arbery’s mother says 2:23 Foundation using son’s name without consent Posted: 05 Sep 2020 05:20 PM PDT  Ahmaud Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said she has not endorsed an organization called the 2:23 Foundation. The foundation started a, "I Run With Maud" Labor Day campaign. Cooper-Jones said she feels disrespected because her late son's name is being used without her approval.
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| Typhoon Haishen: Japanese urged to stay alert as storm blows in Posted: 06 Sep 2020 12:51 PM PDT  Typhoon Haishen hits the southern islands, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes.
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| USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy gave bonuses to former employees who donated to GOP candidates, new report says Posted: 06 Sep 2020 12:02 PM PDT  Several former employees of DeJoy's former business told The Washington Post they felt compelled to make political donations to GOP candidates.
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| FHP clears biker accused of leaving woman to die after she fell on I-95, lawyer says Posted: 05 Sep 2020 01:48 PM PDT |
| Ex- GOP Sen. and Defense Secretary Hagel: Trump reportedly calling troops 'losers' is 'despicable,' fits pattern Posted: 06 Sep 2020 01:54 PM PDT |
| Amid theft and accusations of sabotage, Haiti struggles to turn on the lights Posted: 06 Sep 2020 04:05 AM PDT |
| Georgia teen abused by father on Instagram Live Posted: 06 Sep 2020 01:16 PM PDT |
| From window to jug: Lebanese recycle glass from Beirut blast Posted: 05 Sep 2020 10:12 PM PDT  Standing in a pile of broken glass in northern Lebanon, a man heaved shovel-loads of shards -- retrieved from Beirut after the massive explosion at its port -- into a red-hot furnace.
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| The orphans of Angola's secret massacre seek the truth Posted: 05 Sep 2020 04:00 PM PDT  In May 1977 a ruling party killed thousands, but the purge has been shrouded in mystery for decades.
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| Bond denied for Georgia trooper charged in fatal shooting Posted: 05 Sep 2020 03:08 PM PDT |
| Fraternal Order of Police national president on why his union is endorsing Trump for president Posted: 05 Sep 2020 08:38 AM PDT  Patrick Yoes, national president of America's largest police union, joins 'CAVUTO Live.'
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| California hiker dies as record-setting heatwave and wildfires scorch state Posted: 06 Sep 2020 05:08 PM PDT  In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Woodland Hills, temperatures reached 121 degrees.
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| A conservative group launched an anti-trans digital ad campaign in Michigan to steer votes away from Joe Biden Posted: 05 Sep 2020 09:01 AM PDT  President Donald Trump won Michigan in 2016, but Joe Biden maintains a slight lead over him, according to an average from Real Clear Politics.
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| 'Hands off the children': masked men arrest protesting Belarusian students Posted: 05 Sep 2020 06:25 AM PDT  Up to 30 people were detained for taking part in unsanctioned protests, Russian news agency TASS quoted the Minsk police as saying. Draped in red-and-white opposition flags, students staged protests in several places in the capital, including outside the Minsk State Linguistic Institute where police had arrested five people on Friday, local media footage showed. Elsewhere masked men dragged away students who had gathered at an eatery in Karl Marx Street in the centre of Minsk, while some of the protesters shouted "tribunal!", according to footage shown by news outlet TUT.BY.
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| Jessica Krug Is Just Another Culture-Appropriating White Supremacist Posted: 04 Sep 2020 09:41 PM PDT  A few weeks ago, I re-watched Jordan Peele's racial thriller Get Out. The movie still elicits a visceral response of horror, mostly due to its banality and familiarity. The upper-class liberal white family is creepy, but they are given the benefit of the doubt, repeatedly. The situation is familiar to many of us who move in racially mixed social and work spaces. We ignore the uneasiness until we realize that, like a frog in water set to boil, it's too late. They never actually saw your humanity. Instead, they saw you as a commodity, and you and the labor of your body and mind are about to be overrun and possibly consumed.That's the feeling that some in academia have been expressing after being conned by recently tenured associate professor of Africana studies at George Washington University, Jessica Krug. According to her confession on Medium last Thursday, Krug, who is a white woman from Kansas, has been masquerading for years as a woman of color. She has embodied the identity of a North African, a Black Carribean and a salsa-dancing, accent-faking Afro-Puerto Rican from the Bronx for more than a decade. During that time, she has won a McNair Scholarship—a prestigious financial academic award reserved for people of color and first-generation students. White Professor Admits She Pretended to Be Black: 'I Absolutely Cancel Myself'Similar to but unlike Rachel Dolezal, who feels she actually identifies as Black, Krug admits her act was, in fact, a ruse. She blames her identity shifting and cultural theft on "mental illness" due to "childhood trauma." But before one looks at her actions as those of someone who is delusional or ill, it's important to note that her actions are not as uncommon as they may seem.As outlandish as attempts to embody another race may seem (which is not to be confused with the type of passing mixed-race Black people may have done in earlier times in order to escape the horrors of Jim Crow and racial oppression), appropriating the culture and labor of Black people is precisely what white supremacy has been doing in this country since the first Black bodies were brought to American soil. From stealing the profit of Black labor through slavery, sharecropping, convict leasing, the current prison system, and intractable unequal pay, the economic theft and consuming of Black bodies has not abated. Cultural theft includes minstrelsy, the attribution of the birth of rock and roll to white artists, and the Kardashians, who continuously appropriate, don, and consume Blackness by transforming themselves, their lips, hips, skin color, and hair styles to perform a whitewashed Blackness for profit. And it is this last form that Krug's masquerade most closely resembles. The Kardashians gain credit for styles and looks that actual Black women have been criticized and shamed for. The legitimacy and success that white people obtain when performing Blackness that eludes actual Black people is evident in Krug's performance in academia. Not satisfied with being a scholar who is an ally to Black or Latina women, she actually took on the persona of these women, while also reportedly criticizing and denigrating the work of actual Black and Latina women. For example in the forward to her latest book, she referred to scholar Marisa Fuentes as a "slave catcher." She also pitted Black and Latinx folk against one another, as many Black women questioned her racial and ethnic identity, while others felt compelled to shield and protect her.In addition, Krug's impersonation brings unwarranted scrutiny to the field of Africana studies, as some question that if the identity is a sham, perhaps the scholarship is as well. She also brings unwarranted scrutiny to Black women whose features may indeed not fit an Afrocentric mold. Colorism, the favoring of European features within communities of color, is real and harmful, and there is no doubt that the perception of Krug as a light-skinned Black woman helped her gain favor in a white supremacist culture and in academia. For Black women whose Blackness has already been called into question because of the shade of their skin, Krug did them no favors. And for darker-skinned Black women who are too often not centered in academic spaces or heard, Krug's successes confirm the reality of colorism, the biases against them, and the devaluing of Blackness.Toward the end of Get Out, the main character asks the man to whom his body is being sacrificed, "Why us, why Black people?" The character, an art lover and dealer who lacks legitimate artistic talent, says, "I want your eyes… I want those things you see through." Krug's deep insecurity with her own vision and talents caused her to don Blackness in an attempt to be who we are and see what we see, without realizing it doesn't work that way. And despite white America's centuries-long attempts to capture and keep it, Blackness will never work that way. Blackness will never be yours.The author would like to dedicate this piece to her mother, Mary Francis Taylor.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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| Russian ex-Gulag town on China's doorstep eyes rebirth Posted: 05 Sep 2020 09:12 PM PDT  The remote Russian town of Svobodny has languished in misery for decades but the launch of new mega-projects with their sights set on nearby China is expected to give it a new lease on life.
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| 30 college towns that could face economic ruin if schools don't reopen or have to close again this fall Posted: 06 Sep 2020 05:45 AM PDT  Virtual classes and closures may affect the economies of towns with especially large student populations.
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| 3 desperate migrants jump into sea from stranded Med tanker Posted: 06 Sep 2020 05:38 AM PDT  Three migrants stranded aboard a tanker for over a month awaiting a port to disembark jumped into the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday in a sign of increasing despair on deck, the ship reported. Maersk Tankers A/S said the captain and crew of its chemical tanker Etienne quickly rescued the three migrants and brought them back aboard. The Etienne rescued a group of 27 would-be refugees on Aug. 4 at the request of Maltese authorities as the migrants' fishing boat sank.
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