| Top Trump immigration enforcer announces retirement as election nears Posted: 31 Jul 2020 07:36 AM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump's top immigration enforcement official on Friday announced he will retire from the agency, a staffing shakeup in a key policy area for Trump as he faces re-election in November. Matthew Albence, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in a statement that his plan to retire had been prolonged by the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has created challenges for ICE operations both in the field and in immigration detention centers, where nearly 4,000 immigrants have tested positive for the disease.
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| Two pilots dead after firefighting planes collide while battling Nevada Fire; NTSB investigating Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:57 PM PDT  Two airplanes have collided while battling a 500-acre wildfire in southeastern Nevada, according to authorities.
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| In attempt to discourage people from funding the Syrian regime, the US State Department sanctions Bashar al-Assad's son Posted: 29 Jul 2020 10:23 PM PDT  "Syria sanctions are not intended to harm the Syrian people....or hinder our stabilization activities in northeast Syria," the State Department said.
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| Tammy Duckworth Wants to Know WTF Are We Supposed to Do With Our Kids During COVID? Posted: 31 Jul 2020 08:27 AM PDT  Sen. Tammy Duckworth may be on Biden's VP shortlist. But when it comes to childcare during the pandemic, she's just as confused as the rest of us. "So my choice is five hours of homeschooling every day for my daughter and failing her, because I'm not a trained educator, or sending her to a school where she could very likely get this virus or bring it home and get her 2-year-old sister sick or my 79-year-old mom, who lives with us," Duckworth tells Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson on the latest episode of The New Abnormal. "That's the problem: impossible choices."Duckworth also opens up about just how hostile the Senate was to working moms until a hot second ago. One particularly ridiculous question stands out. "They want to know if you're gonna breastfeed on the floor. [And I said,] 'I'm not exactly planning on whipping one out in front of them. But if the baby is hungry, I'll feed her.'" Then Princeton's Sam Wang talks about how national polling works, what it means for Biden, and the out-of-the-way campaigns that could make a huge difference for decades to come. Oh, and the elephant in the room: the United States Postal Service."My biggest concern this year is the post office," he says.'Pretty Close to a Hundred' New Epstein AccusersPlus, a Trump ambassador goes to a Nazi cemetery—and gets all wistful. A Republican candidate swears "celebrities and Democrats catch COVID and magically heal." The Stephen Hawking of the U.S. House of Representatives displays his genius—at infecting everyone around him. And finally, Rick asks the big questions: Who's more popular, Zombie Bin Laden or Ron DeSantis? Was Tulsa Trump's Jonestown? And does Chuck Schumer realize that "he's got Mitch McConnell's balls in a bag for once?"Listen to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.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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| These 13 states need to lock down now, according to Harvard coronavirus experts Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:22 AM PDT  A report released by the Trump administration's coronavirus task force warns that 21 states are now in the "red zone" and need to take aggressive steps to slow the spread of COVID-19. But new guidelines from Harvard University show the task force's recommendations may be too weak to suppress the virus.
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| Democrats reject $600 benefit extension from White House, push for more Posted: 31 Jul 2020 03:31 AM PDT  Democrats rejected a short-term extension of a $600 weekly unemployment benefit proposed by the White House on Thursday.
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| Woman who filmed Florida police officer drawing gun during pullover arrested after failing to return vehicle Posted: 31 Jul 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Joneshia Wilkerson, 23, was arrested on suspicion of failure to return a leased vehicle and fraudulent use of a credit card.
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| Letters to the Editor: Portland protesters, it's time to stop. You're playing into Trump's hands Posted: 31 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  God forbid President Trump gets another four years in office because of average voters' disgust with violent protests.
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| Mexico to eclipse UK with third highest coronavirus death toll Posted: 31 Jul 2020 11:05 AM PDT  Mexico is poised to overtake Britain as the country with the third-highest coronavirus death toll as the pandemic reaches new milestones in Latin America and threatens to disrupt efforts to reopen the economy. The unwanted record will place Mexico behind Brazil, Latin America's largest and most populous nation, and the United States. More than 91,000 people have died in Brazil and the U.S. death toll has surpassed 152,000.
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| Are Pap smears 'obsolete'? There's a better option for cervical cancer screening, American Cancer Society says Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:12 AM PDT  The American Cancer Society released new guidelines on cervical cancer screenings Thursday, recommending that people with a cervix start testing at age 25.
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| Philippines' police have arrested 76,000 people for breaching lockdown as Duterte wages war on COVID-19 just like his war on drugs Posted: 31 Jul 2020 02:15 PM PDT  Political science professor Aries Arugay told the Washington Post Duterte's government was a "one-trick pony."
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| Did the CIA Torture an Undercover DEA Agent for a Mexican Drug Cartel? Posted: 31 Jul 2020 12:11 AM PDT  Narcos: Mexico's first two seasons revolve around the 1985 murder of undercover DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, who was abducted, tortured and slain by the Guadalajara Cartel he was investigating. Mining thrilling drama from reality, the Netflix series is a true story about bravery and villainy that's overflowing with larger-than-life figures, be it the bold Camarena, the ruthless cartel kingpins Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Rafael Caro Quintero, or the resolute DEA agents intent on bringing to justice those responsible for their comrade's killing—the latter group led by Walt Breslin, a take-no-prisoners American tasked with leading the retaliatory mission against the drug lords.Unlike most of those featured in Netflix's hit, Walt Breslin isn't a real person but a composite character based largely on DEA agent Hector Berrellez, the supervisor of the inquiry into Camarena's assassination. And in Amazon's new The Last Narc, Berrellez tells his own harrowing tale of taking on Guadalajara's kingpins—and in the process delivers revelations about the U.S. government's own culpability in the death of one of their own.Netflix Exposes Trump's Shady Mob Ties in 'Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia'The Nazi Hunter Taking On Mark ZuckerbergDirected by Tiller Russell, The Last Narc is a four-part docuseries (premiering July 31) about the vast conspiracy that fatally ensnared Camarena. In a dim, empty bar illuminated only by light streaming through a background doorway and window, the candid Berrellez recounts his own involvement in the War on Drugs. Brought up by a tarot card-reading mom (here seen plying her supernatural trade), and compelled to pursue a law-enforcement career after his brother became hooked on heroin at age 12, Berrellez is a bearded, weathered cowboy with a glint in his eyes that says he means business. Forthrightly reminiscing about pulling guns on suspects—and shooting down one dealer during an undercover bust gone awry—he instantly comes across as the real deal, and thus a fascinating tour guide into this sordid cartel milieu.Berrellez's career took off once he joined the DEA, and he was soon ordered to figure out who had done in Camarena. According to wife Geneva "Mika" Camarena and colleagues Mike Holm and Phil Jordan, Camarena was a daring and driven agent determined to take down the mighty Guadalajara Cartel, and he certainly put a dent in their empire when he discovered (and, with the help of pilot Alfredo Zavala, photographed from the sky) Rancho Búfalo, a sprawling marijuana plantation that was subsequently torched by Mexican soldiers, thereby costing the cartel billions. On its own, that blow was enough to put Camarena in Gallardo, Quintero and Carrillo's crosshairs. But worse still, it indicated that he was closing in on them, even though they had virtually everyone on their payroll, from local cops and politicians to Miguel de la Madrid, the then-current president of Mexico, as well as his predecessor, Jose Lopez Portillo.On February 7, 1985, the cartel struck, seizing Camarena as he left the office to meet Mika for lunch. At 881 Lope de Vega—a residence owned by Ruben Zuno Arce, a dealer and associate of Quintero—Camarena was horribly tortured, and kept alive (so he could suffer more) by doctor Humberto Álvarez Machaín. After 36 hours, he fell into a coma and was lethally bludgeoned with a piece of rebar by one of Quintero's gunmen. He was then buried in Arce's La Primavera forest (a de facto cartel graveyard), only to later be dug up so he could be "found" by authorities.Berrellez's knowledge of cartel culture and operations is extensive and compelling, as is his explanation of the investigative hurdles he faced while trying to take down his targets. His insights alone make The Last Narc an eye-opening non-fiction account of underworld mayhem. Russell's series, however, also benefits from the input of three cartel henchmen—Jalisco State Police officers Jorge Godoy and Rene Lopez, and their boss Ramon Lira—who relay their experiences as bodyguards for Gallardo, Quintero and Carrillo, as well as their direct participation in Camarena's kidnapping and murder, all before they switched sides and became informants for Berrellez. From describing that broad-daylight snatching of Camarena, to revealing how Carrillo and Quintero argued about how to deal with their prisoner (the former wanted him released; the latter wanted him offed), their commentary affords a window onto a clandestine world fueled by greed, mercilessness, substance abuse and a sense of invulnerability.Stunning first-person details abound in The Last Narc, provided by colorful characters led by Berrellez—a no-nonsense crime fighter who seems tailor-made for a big-screen action franchise, even in older age—and Godoy, who behaves in such a weird manner during his interview that it's not clear if he's drunk, mad, or some combination of the two. In a late scene, Godoy closes his eyes and brushes at his shoulders to dispel the spirits (of Camarena, and others) that haunt him. It's a sight that's all the more transfixing for being so weird, and it's in keeping with the general gonzo nature of the proceedings, which (as in Narcos: Mexico) eventually implicate the CIA and DEA as complicit in Camarena's execution. Led by Berrellez and others' testimony, the series contends that Cuban-born CIA agent Felix Rodriguez partially conducted Camarena's interrogation and torture, because the U.S. government feared that he had stumbled upon a much larger conspiracy—namely, that the CIA was in bed with the cartels, moving guns, drugs and cash through them in order to covertly fund Nicaragua's anti-communist Contras.That theory might not be new, but Berrellez's discussion about his primary role in exposing the scheme—and the personal and professional ramifications he suffered as a result—lends it persuasive credence. The Last Narc thus transforms from a simple murder-mystery into a wide-ranging expose about the entangled relationship between the CIA, the Mexican government, the DFS (Mexico's secret police, created by the CIA) and the cartels. In doing so, it renders Camarena a casualty of a war that was fundamentally unwinnable, since all interested parties had a stake in maintaining the status quo, regardless of the harm it caused the Mexican and American populations. Consequently, the lasting impression left by Russell's series isn't shock or outrage, but despair over a plague supported by a greedy many, and combated by a courageous few who, for their heroic efforts, received nothing but disgrace and death.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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| GOP intransigence in Michigan could lead to a chaotic presidential election Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:00 AM PDT  A top Michigan official warned that, unless the Republican-controlled state Legislature passes a law to speed up the reporting of election results, it would be responsible for a chaotic and destabilizing election this fall.
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| NASA's Perseverance Rover Is Headed to Mars. Now Comes the Hard Part. Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:00 AM PDT |
| Gay officer who settled suit will resign from diversity unit Posted: 31 Jul 2020 04:12 PM PDT |
| Carjacking suspect guns down three police officers in Chicago police station shoot out Posted: 31 Jul 2020 08:25 AM PDT  A carjacking suspect who had already been arrested shot three Chicago police officers as they attempted to escort him into custody on Thursday morning, authorities said.The gunman was being taken out of a patrol van and walked into Northwest Side police station at around 9.30am when he opened fire, hitting the officers.
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| U.S. coronavirus epicenter shifts toward Midwestern states Posted: 30 Jul 2020 06:07 AM PDT  The epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States showed signs of shifting to the Midwest on Thursday while Sunbelt states were hopeful that new infections and deaths were starting to decline. The COVID-19 outbreak was moving into Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska "because of vacations and other reasons of travel," Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, told Fox News in an interview. Ohio's health department said the state had seen its highest single-day increase in infections since the pandemic started in January, which Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, told a news conference was "certainly not good news."
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| Biden's running mate announcement pushed back, likely will not come next week Posted: 31 Jul 2020 03:17 PM PDT  Former Vice President Biden previously said he would announce his running mate the first week of August. It looks like that date may be pushed back.
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| Trump says coronavirus stimulus checks, direct payments may be more than $1,200 Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:48 AM PDT  The amount the president put on the table is even higher than that proposed by Republicans and Democrats.
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| A hotel in Australia had to ban a pair of 6-foot emus for overstepping their guest privileges Posted: 31 Jul 2020 10:35 AM PDT  Emu siblings Kevin and Carol are frequent visitors of the Yaraka Hotel in Queensland, but reportedly got a little out of hand last week.
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| COVID-19 patient who had double transplant didn’t recognize body Posted: 31 Jul 2020 05:33 AM PDT  A Chicago woman who became the nation's first COVID-19 patient to undergo a double lung transplant said, "I looked at myself and couldn't recognize my body."
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| A Louisiana woman who planted seeds from a mysterious package says she's not worried. But the USDA is, and it's asking people not to plant these unknown seeds. Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:10 PM PDT  "Then we saw the post saying don't plant them. I mean, I'm not scared about it, I'm not worried about it, but I guess people are," Aucoin told WAFB.
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| Austin, Texas, joins growing number of U.S. cities in declaring racism a 'public health crisis' Posted: 30 Jul 2020 12:18 PM PDT  Dozens of cities and counties have passed similar declarations in the wake of George Floyd's death.
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| South Korean general sacked over defector's return Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:10 PM PDT  The man's departure only came to light when Pyongyang -- which insists it has not had any coronavirus cases -- announced at the weekend that a "runaway" who had returned across the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone was suspected of having the disease. Inter-Korean relations have been in a deep freeze following the collapse of a summit in Hanoi between Kim and US President Donald Trump early last year over what the nuclear-armed North would be willing to give up in exchange for a loosening of sanctions.
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| Boston marathon bombing: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s death sentence overturned by appeals court Posted: 31 Jul 2020 01:43 PM PDT  A federal appeals court has overturned the Boston Marathon bomber's death sentence.The decision by a three-judge panel says that the judge that oversaw the original case did not adequately screen the jury for potential biases.
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| South Africa produces its first ventilators to fight COVID-19 Posted: 31 Jul 2020 05:10 AM PDT  The first of thousands of South African-designed ventilators rolled off a Cape Town assembly line on Friday, responding to requests from hospitals needing them for severe COVID-19 cases but unable to get them on global markets, officials said. Poorly resourced hospitals across Africa, which is nearing a million cases of COVID-19 -- more than half of them in South Africa -- have struggled to cope with a burgeoning case load amid a global scramble favouring richer nations in procuring ventilators and protective gear. "Today the first batch of completed ventilators are coming off the assembly line, part of an initial order of 10,000 units," Ebrahim Patel, the trade and industry minister, said during a COVID-19 conference.
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| FBI says errors discovered in more than two-dozen wiretap applications were mostly minor Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:59 PM PDT  The agency said its review of 29 applications to obtain wiretaps on U.S. citizens had only minor, mostly typographical errors.
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| Trump suggests delaying November election — but it's not likely Posted: 30 Jul 2020 06:31 AM PDT  President Trump, trailing Joe Biden in the polls, suggests delaying the November election.
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| Former U.S. Ambassador Labels Pompeo Speech on China a ‘Psychotic Rant’ in Interview with Chinese Propaganda Outlet Posted: 31 Jul 2020 12:28 PM PDT  Charles "Chas" Freeman, a veteran U.S. diplomat who served in East Asia and as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, slammed a speech by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a "psychotic rant" in an interview Wednesday with a Chinese propaganda outlet.In his July 23 speech at the Nixon Presidential Library, Pompeo said, "Securing our freedoms from the Chinese Communist Party is the mission of our time, and America is perfectly positioned to lead it because our founding principles give us that opportunity."The U.S. is upping its hostility toward China "as outlined in Pompeo's psychotic rant of last Thursday," Freeman told Chinese state news agency Xinhua on Wednesday. "China policy is now made by notable anti-China elements, who will have agreed with the many falsehoods and distortions of Pompeo's rhetoric."Freeman has a long history of service in the State Department, and he was President Nixon's Chinese interpreter during his visit to China in 1972. The former diplomat drew controversy in 2009 when he was nominated to be chairman of the National Intelligence Council, after Freeman wrote in an email leaked to the Weekly Standard that China was too restrained in its crackdown of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests."The Politburo's response to the mob scene at 'Tian'anmen' stands as a monument to overly cautious behavior on the part of the leadership, not as an example of rash action," Freeman wrote at the time. "I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be."
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| Fool's Gold Has a Purpose After All Posted: 31 Jul 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Pyrite: not totally useless!
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| The US Postal Service will reduce post-office hours to save money, report says Posted: 30 Jul 2020 11:41 AM PDT  A USPS spokesperson didn't elaborate on how USPS locations would ensure service to customers after reducing hours.
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| Alan Dershowitz calls Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre a 'serial liar' while once again denying he ever had sex with her Posted: 31 Jul 2020 03:12 PM PDT  Virginia Giuffre claims that Dershowitz, a Harvard Law professor, had sex with her when she was underage in Jeffrey Epstein's residences.
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| A key federal appeals court will reexamine case on Michael Flynn's guilty plea Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:42 AM PDT  The full panel of judges' decision to review Flynn's case could result in a reversal of a three-judge panel's decision to dismiss the case last month.
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| Russian jet fighter buzzes two U.S. spy planes over Black Sea Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:14 AM PDT |
| Nearly a third of Poland has declared 'LGBT-free zones.' The EU is denying funds to them. Posted: 31 Jul 2020 03:44 AM PDT  "EU values and fundamental rights must be respected by Member States and state authorities," said Commissioner Helena Dalli in a tweet Tuesday.
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| Republicans dismiss Trump's suggestion to postpone November election Posted: 30 Jul 2020 11:59 AM PDT  "Never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions and the Civil War, have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
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| New fallout after Trump floats delaying election Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:24 PM PDT  There's also growing concern about delays at post offices, with a new report claiming the U.S. Postal Service is facing backlogs. ABC's Alex Presha reports.
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| Coronavirus: 10 die drinking sanitiser after Indian state shuts liquor shops Posted: 31 Jul 2020 08:30 AM PDT  Local liquor shops were shut under a local coronavirus lockdown in a village in Andhra Pradesh.
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| Family of Black college student killed by white police officer draws support from Jay-Z, Rihanna and Amy Schumer in bid to reopen case Posted: 30 Jul 2020 11:37 AM PDT  College football standout Danroy "DJ" Henry Jr., 20, was shot and killed by a white police officer outside a New York bar on Oct. 17, 2010, as he drove away from a disturbance he was not involved in. Nearly 10 years later, celebrities join the victim's family to demand that the case be reopened.
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| Boeing wins $265 million to build more special ops Chinook helos Posted: 31 Jul 2020 02:24 PM PDT  Army has minted another deal with Boeing for more Chinooks for special ops.
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| Venezuela supreme court approves extradition request to Italy for ex-oil czar Posted: 31 Jul 2020 11:33 AM PDT  Venezuela's supreme court said on Friday it had approved a request to Italy for the extradition of Rafael Ramirez, a once powerful oil minister and former head of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, on corruption charges. Authorities opened a probe into Ramirez over alleged graft in late 2017 and sought an Interpol red alert for him in early 2018, shortly after he left his later post as Venezuela's United Nations ambassador and began publicly criticizing President Nicolas Maduro's handling of the economy, which remains in freefall.
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| Fact check: Joe Biden didn't take a knee upon seeing a flag; he was talking to a child Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:09 PM PDT  While visiting his childhood home this month, the presidential candidate kneeled to talk to a child. It's false to say he "took a knee" for the flag.
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| Ex-Weinstein Attorney Lisa Bloom Loses Money Grab in Autistic Kid’s Settlement Posted: 31 Jul 2020 01:45 PM PDT  A federal magistrate on Friday denied attorneys' fees to camera-ready victims' rights lawyer Lisa Bloom, who had tried to block a multimillion-dollar settlement for a sexually abused autistic teenager who was briefly Bloom's client.San Francisco-based U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler instead invalidated Bloom's lien on the settlement from the West Contra Costa Unified School District and awarded $2,250,000—a figure which includes costs and attorneys' fees—to "Brennon B.," a severely disabled student who was repeatedly sexually assaulted on school property by fellow special needs students and a staff member."In light of the benefits that the plaintiff has received in the litigation…the court finds that the settlement is reasonable and that the attorney's fees are reasonable and appropriate," Beeler ruled, while denying Bloom's request to maintain her lien on just the attorneys' fees.Former Harvey Weinstein Attorney Lisa Bloom, Angling for a Hefty Payday, Now Faces Fraud AllegationsBrennon B.'s longtime attorney, Micha Star Liberty, who had a joint venture agreement with Bloom to assist with the case for seven months until Bloom abruptly withdrew in late March 2020, had alleged in court filings that The Bloom Firm had violated terms of the agreement and forged documents and signatures in an unjustified money grab."My client and I are pleased with the court's ruling," Liberty told The Daily Beast, referring to Brennon B. and his mother and legal guardian, Bellinda B. "Lisa Bloom has shown once again that all she cares about is money, and will do anything to get it, including calling the mother of her own former client, a special needs sexual assault victim, a liar in a publicly filed document. Through her disparaging words and her attempt to profit by fraud, her lack of moral compass has yet again been revealed to the world through her own unethical actions." The Bloom Firm, in a statement that said it was "pleased that Brennon B. will receive his portion of the settlement and the justice he deserves," fired back: "This is and has always been an attorney's fees dispute between The Bloom Firm and Liberty Law, that should never have included the clients... Ms. Liberty has gone to great lengths to avoid paying money she is contractually obligated to pay, even using her own clients as pawns, despite knowing that The Bloom Firm's lien could not and would not affect the client's portion. Ms. Liberty also appears intent on using the media to defame and ridicule Ms. Bloom. The Bloom Firm will not stoop to Ms. Liberty's level and has no further comment on her or this matter."Friday's ruling—which is expected to cause the settlement payment to be disbursed by next week—is likely a bad omen for Bloom's attempt to collect a hefty slice of a second multimillion-dollar settlement, also won by Liberty.In that case, "I.V.," a 7-year-old autistic girl, sued the Vacaville Unified School District after her physical and emotional abuse by a school bus driver was caught on video and received intense media coverage.Bloom, whose feminist reputation suffered a massive blow with revelations that she had been secretly helping convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein trash his accusers, has until midnight Friday to file a motion to Sacramento-based U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller.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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