| Supreme Court strikes down consumer agency's autonomy in win for Trump administration Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:04 PM PDT  The case was a major test of the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.
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| Israel orders US-based Christian TV channel off air Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:45 AM PDT |
| Transcript: Mike Pence on "Face the Nation" Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:41 AM PDT  The following is a transcript of an interview with Vice President Mike Pence that aired Sunday, June 28, 2020, on "Face the Nation."
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| Mississippi Lawmakers Vote to Remove Confederate Symbol From State Flag Posted: 28 Jun 2020 04:09 PM PDT  Mississippi lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to remove a Confederate emblem from their state flag on Sunday, marking one of the most dramatic repudiations yet of white-supremacist imagery during a wave of protests against racism and police brutality in America.The bill passed 128 to 37 and is now awaiting signature by Gov. Tate Reeves. It requires the current state flag to be removed within 15 days of passage. A commission selected by the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the House will design a flag including the phrase "In God We Trust" to be completed by September 14. Mississippi voters will decide on the new flag during the November general election. If the new flag is not ratified by voters in November, a new design will be created and voted on the following year. "Today's vote is not a vote to erase Mississippi's history or its heritage," Sen. John Horhn said. "But it's an affirmation of Mississippi's future, and that we intend to move forward together."On Saturday, lawmakers in both houses cleared an initial measure paving the way for a bill to change the flag, and Republican Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted that he would sign a bill to that effect.The initial measure lifted restrictions in place that prohibited the state government from changing or removing the state flag, which is the last in the United States to include an explicit homage to pro-slavery rebels."The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it's time to end it," Reeves tweeted.The governor went on to say that changing the flag was not enough to fight the systemic racism the Confederate symbol represents. "We should not be under any illusion that a vote in the Capitol is the end of what must be done," he wrote. "It will be harder than recovering from tornadoes, harder than historic floods, harder than agency corruption, or prison riots or the coming hurricane season—even harder than battling the Coronavirus."State Representative Jeramey Anderson (D-Miss), the youngest-ever Black legislator elected in Mississippi at 28, applauded the decision to pave the way for change on Saturday. "This is a unique opportunity, one we should not squander," he said. Confederate leader Jefferson Davis's great-great grandson Bertram Hayes-Davis backed the change, telling CNN that "the battle flag has been hijacked" and that it "does not represent the entire population of Mississippi."Rising college basketball player Blake Hinson said the Confederate symbol played a role in his decision to transfer from the University of Mississippi to Iowa State earlier this month. "It was time to go and leave Ole Miss," he told the Daytona Beach News Journal. "I'm proud not to represent that flag anymore and to not be associated with anything representing the Confederacy."Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Miss) opposed the change and called for a state referendum on the issue, warning that changing the American flag was next. "I don't see how that makes me a racist." he said. "I don't see how that makes me a terrible human being."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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| Trump in ‘fragile’ mood and may drop out of 2020 race if poll numbers don’t improve, GOP insiders tell Fox News Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:27 AM PDT  Donald Trump may drop out of the 2020 presidential race if he believes he has no chance of winning, a Republican Party operative reportedly told Fox News.The claim comes in a report in the president's favourite news outlet that cites a number of GOP insiders who are concerned about Mr Trump's re-election prospects amid abysmal polling numbers.
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| Russia denies nuclear incident after international body detects isotopes Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:15 AM PDT  Russia said on Monday it had detected no sign of a radiation emergency, after an international body reported last week that sensors in Stockholm had picked up unusually high levels of radioactive isotopes produced by nuclear fission. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which monitors the world for evidence of nuclear weapons tests, said last week one of its stations scanning the air for radioactive particles had found unusual, although harmless, levels of caesium-134, caesium-137 and ruthenium-103. The isotopes were "certainly nuclear fission products, most likely from a civil source", it said.
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| Coming Soon: Russian Bombers (Now Armed with Hypersonic Missiles?) Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:30 PM PDT  Hypersonic missiles have been seen as a potential game changer, with some in the U.S. military warning that there is really no defense against the missiles due to their speed.
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| Syed Ali Geelani: Kashmir leader quits Hurriyat Conference Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:47 AM PDT  Syed Ali Geelani has been heading political opposition to Indian rule in Kashmir for decades.
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| President Trump on 'Fox Nation Presents: What Made America Great,' Part 2 Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:52 PM PDT  Host Brian Kilmeade gets an exclusive tour of the Oval Office featuring President Trump.
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| Supreme Court clears way for federal executions to resume Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:05 AM PDT  Attorney General William Barr announced last year the federal government would conduct its first executions since 2003 using the drug pentobarbital.
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| Louisville protest shooting victim remembered for kindness Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:44 AM PDT  A man gunned down during a Louisville protest over the police killing of Breonna Taylor was remembered at a vigil for amplifying calls for peace and helping victims of racial injustice. Flowers and candles lined a makeshift memorial at Jefferson Square Park for Tyler Gerth, 27, who was fatally shot Saturday. Dozens of people joined Gerth's father, Chuck Gerth, to take a knee Sunday night at a vigil for Tyler Gerth in Louisville, media outlets reported.
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| Exclusive: NRA has shed 200 staffers this year as group faces financial crisis Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Gun rights organization may struggle to support Trump in 2020 election amid layoffs and furloughsAfter spending over $30m to help elect Donald Trump in 2016, the National Rifle Association faces a deepening financial crisis with over 200 staff layoffs and furloughs in 2020, according to three NRA sources, gun analysts and documents.The situation is likely to hinder efforts by the gun rights group to help Trump and other Republicans win in November's election.The 200-plus layoffs and furloughs, which have not previously been reported and were mainly at NRA headquarters in Virginia, were spurred by declines in revenues and fundraising, heavy legal spending, political infighting, and charges of insider self-dealing under scrutiny by attorneys general in New York and Washington DC, the sources say."The widespread Covid layoffs and furloughs have further harmed both the NRA's legal capacity and political influence beyond what was already a troubling deterioration," said one NRA official who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters. The official added the outlook this year for NRA political spending was "deeply concerning."NRA staff learned about the furloughs, plus 20% staff pay cuts, four-day work weeks and other belt tightening, in an April email from Wayne LaPierre, the longtime top executive of the NRA, which claims it has 5 million members.LaPierre's email to the "NRA family" said "we have lost significant revenue" and linked the austerity moves to the pandemic's stay-at-home orders. The email said the NRA hoped to bring back those furloughed when its finances improved.The NRA declined to comment on the extent of the layoffs and furloughs, which sources said were continuing.The NRA's financial problems were palpable long before the pandemic but have increased due to a few factors, including the cancellation of a number of NRA fundraising dinners following the onset of Covid-19.The NRA typically pulls in tens of millions of dollars yearly from Friends of NRA dinners in many states, but most were canceled after January and February, said the sources.The NRA's woes, say gun analysts, are expected to sharply reduce spending this year compared with the $30m the group spent on ads to help Trump win in 2016. They are also likely to mean cuts to its once formidable get out the vote operations in key states that historically provide big boosts to GOP candidates. Overall in 2016, the NRA spent close to $70m on ads and voter mobilization drives, say NRA sources.In 2018, the NRA's financial problems caused it to spend a relatively lackluster $9.4m on the midterm elections, and gun control groups outspent the NRA for the first time, which analysts say helped the Democrats win the House majority."The NRA is entering the summer and fall campaign with a series of crippling financial, legal, and political problems," said Robert Spitzer, a political science professor at Cortland State University in New York.Spitzer added: "As its anemic political spending in the 2018 midterm election showed, they will not be able to match anything like the roughly $70m they spent in 2016, as they continue to be plagued by a major revenue shortfall, a fact exacerbated by the impact of the coronavirus shutdown."The drop in revenues accelerated in 2019 when several large NRA donors began a drive to oust LaPierre over allegations of mismanagement and self-dealing, and to promote reforms. The website helpsavethenra.com, which is headlined "Retire LaPierre", boasted in December that $165m in donations and planned gifts had been withheld.The donor revolt has been spurred in part by several reports of lavish personal spending by LaPierre. The Wall Street Journal revealed last year that according to the NRA's former ad firm Ackerman McQueen, which has been in legal battles with the NRA and LaPierre, he took about $240,000 worth of trips to Italy, Hungary, the Bahamas and other locales that were charged to the ad firm. The Journal reported that the ad firm had paid for about $200,000 in expensive suits for LaPierre, including some from a Beverly Hills boutique.LaPierre's yearly salary in 2018 was close to $2m.Two Democratic attorneys general in New York and DC have reportedly been investigating whether the NRA abused its non-profit tax-exempt status in different ways such as improperly transferring funds from an NRA Foundation to the NRA.Further, the AGs are said to be examining the allegations of self-dealing by NRA leaders, including financial transactions involving LaPierre, the NRA and the former ad firm.If the AGs bring charges, the NRA could lose its coveted non-profit status in New York, where it has long been chartered.The NRA's top outside lawyer has said it is complying with the investigations but has attacked the NY AG's "zeal" and "the investigation's partisan purposes".During the pandemic, the NRA and pro-gun allies have waged successful legal battles in a number of states to make gun shops and shooting ranges "essential" businesses and circumvent stay-at-home measures.But in mid-June, second-amendment advocates and the NRA suffered a stinging legal setback when the supreme court declined 10 petitions to review lower court rulings involving gun laws in several states, including Illinois and Massachusetts, which have banned assault weapons.The NRA attacked the high court's "inaction" in a statement, blasting it for allowing "so-called gun safety politicians to trample on the freedom and security of law-abiding citizens".Due to the pandemic, the NRA earlier this year canceled its annual meeting in Nashville, which Trump has faithfully attended since taking office to solidify his NRA ties. It is now slated to be held on 5 September in Springfield, Missouri.At last year's meeting was concluding, Trump in a tweet urged his NRA allies to "stop the internal infighting" amid the charges of self-dealing by its leaders and to "get back to GREATNESS. FAST." For now, Trump's aspirations for a speedy NRA recovery seem largely unfulfilled.
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| Chinese coronavirus vaccine approved for use in country's military after clinical trials Posted: 29 Jun 2020 07:03 AM PDT  China's military has approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by its own research staff and a Chinese biotech firm, it was announced on Monday. The vaccine was given the green light for use by troops after trials proved it was both safe and effective, said CanSino Biologics, the biotech firm involved. However, its use for the time being will be restricted to military personnel, who offer a tighter medical control group than the general public. The vaccine candidate, named Ad5-nCoV, was developed jointly by CanSino and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology in the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. It has been in development since March. CanSino said the results showed the vaccine candidate has potential to prevent diseases caused by the coronavirus, which has killed half a million people globally. The company added that it was not yet possible to say if it could be a commercial success, which would depend on being able to produce the vaccine cheaply as well as safely.
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| A Closer Look at William Wegman’s Picture-Perfect Postcard Art Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:35 AM PDT |
| Huntsman at risk of shocking defeat in Utah Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:19 PM PDT  After a decade away from Utah politics and a weeks-long fight with the coronavirus, the former governor is locked in a tight race for his old job.
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| China to impose visa restrictions on U.S. individuals over Hong Kong Posted: 29 Jun 2020 12:37 AM PDT  Beijing said on Monday it will impose visa restrictions on U.S. individuals with "egregious conduct" on Hong Kong-related issues, mirroring U.S. sanctions against unnamed Chinese officials deemed responsible for curbing freedoms in the city. The announcement comes as the top decision-making body of China's parliament deliberates a draft national security law for Hong Kong that pro-democracy activists in the city fear will be used to eliminate dissent and tighten Beijing's control. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who announced the new sanctions during a press briefing in response to a question about Washington's new visa restrictions, did not specify which U.S. individuals have been targeted.
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| New York City mayor plans to cut $1bn from police budget Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:47 PM PDT  New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed cutting $1bn (£814m) from the police force's $6bn (£4.48bn) yearly budget, amid calls for reform.Mr de Blasio announced the plan during his daily City Hall press briefing on Monday, and said the proposed budget would help reform the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
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| The coronavirus is devastating communities of color. The Trump administration's top doctor blames 'structural racism' and shares his plans to take action. Posted: 29 Jun 2020 05:19 AM PDT  Dr. Jerome Adams is preparing two calls to action — one on high blood pressure, the other on maternal mortality — to address racial health inequality.
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| Supreme Court makes it easier for president to fire CFPB head Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:56 AM PDT  In her scathing dissent, Justice Elena Kagan called the ruling the "civics class version of separation of powers."
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| Minneapolis police chief, mayor launching policy changes Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:16 PM PDT  The Minneapolis police chief and mayor on Sunday began their push for sweeping policy changes with a new rule that prevents officers involved in using deadly force from reviewing body camera footage before completing an initial police report. The new standards come after a proposal by the Minneapolis City Council to dismantle the police force following the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed Black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes.
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| The A-12 Avenger Shows Why The Navy Needs A Long-Range Strike Aircraft Posted: 28 Jun 2020 11:00 PM PDT  The Navy's carrier air wings would have greatly benefited from an A-12-like capability had the program survived.
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| Russia's mining giant admits to dumping contaminated water into Arctic tundra Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:38 AM PDT  Russia's mining giant Norilsk Nickel has admitted to spilling wastewater into the wild less than a month after it caused a disastrous oil spill in the same region. Environmentalists and journalists in the Arctic city of Norilsk on Sunday caught an enrichment plant owned by Norilsk Nickel dumping water full of heavy metals into the Arctic tundra. The Novaya Gazeta newspaper published footage from outside the city of Norilsk, showing metal pipes leading from a reservoir and releasing foaming liquid into the nearby woods. The journalists called the police to the scene, prompting the workers to begin to dismantle the pipes. Environmental activists who took samples at the site of the spill were stopped at the local airport over the weekend and barred from shipping them to Moscow for tests. An official quoted by the Tass news agency on Monday said that up to 6,000 cubic metres of "unknown liquid with a chemical odour" is believed to have been pumped into tundra. London-traded Norilsk Nickel later on Sunday admitted to the incident, saying that it has suspended the workers who decided to pump the water into the tundra. Unnamed workers at the Talnakh plant reportedly suspected that the reservoir for the liquid used to process minerals would soon get overflow and decided to dump the wastewater into the nearby tundra. Investigators are looking into the incident. Norilsk Nickel, with the market capitalisation of £36 billion, is a major taxpayer in the region, employing more than 73,000 people. The metal company's environmental record came into question last month when some 20,000 metric tonnes of diesel fuel spilled into the river system from a tank at a power plant it owns. The fuel spill, which has been blamed on thawing permafrost, has been described as the Arctic's worst since the 1989 accident off the coast of Alaska. Vladimir Chuprov, project director at Greenpeace Russia, says that the Arctic spill has shed the light on the magnitude of day-to-day pollution in Norilsk by one of the country's biggest industrial companies. "Norilsk Nickel has been dumping waste water, which is proved by satellite images," he said, adding that it is high time that the company "stops hiding the violations and gets down to rectifying them." Norilsk Nickel insists that it responds to all reports about potential environmental damage.
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| Shipbuilding suppliers need more than market forces to stay afloat Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:41 PM PDT  Without deliberate action, the U.S. shipbuilding industry will become increasingly fragile.
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| Greta Thunberg accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of lining up to take a selfie with her just to 'look good' Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:19 AM PDT  Thunberg castigated Angela Merkel and other world leaders at the UN summit as stealing her dreams, but they still craved an Instagram moment with her.
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| Flags at family home honors all Massachusetts COVID-19 deaths Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:22 AM PDT  The Labbe family honors each Massachusetts person who has died from the coronavirus with a flag.
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| Dozens arrested as Hong Kongers protest planned national security laws Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:03 AM PDT  Hong Kong police arrested at least 53 people on Sunday after scuffles erupted during a relatively peaceful protest against planned national security legislation to be implemented by the mainland Chinese government. Armed riot police were present as a crowd of several hundred moved from Jordan to Mong Kok in the Kowloon district, staging what was intended as a "silent protest" against the planned law. Hong Kong Police said on Facebook that 53 people had been arrested and charged with unlawful assembly, adding that earlier some protesters tried to blockade roads in the area.
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| Sen. Grassley said Fox News failed Trump with second-term agenda question, isn't working to get him re-elected Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:41 PM PDT  Senator Chuck Grassley took particular issue with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
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| The first Boeing 737 Max recertification flight just landed, marking a new milestone for the troubled jet Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:31 PM PDT  Boeing and FAA officials were aboard the 737 Max as it made its first recertification flight, a major milestone for the troubled jet.
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| Three men arrested for murder in case of missing California couple who vanished in 2017 Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:23 AM PDT  Three men have been arrested for murder in the case of Audrey Moran and Jonathan Reynoso, who have been missing since 2017. Manuel Rios, of Coachella, Abraham Fregoso, of Indio, and Jesus Ruiz Jr., of Stockton, were taken into custody on Saturday, June 27, 2020, and booked in Riverside County Jail. The Riverside County Sheriff's Office is investigating.
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| 'Enough': 1 killed in shooting in Seattle's protest zone Posted: 29 Jun 2020 07:21 AM PDT  A 16-year-old boy was killed and and a younger teenager was wounded early Monday in Seattle's "occupied" protest zone — the second deadly shooting in the area that local officials have vowed to change after business complaints and criticism from President Donald Trump. The violence that came just over a week after another shooting in the zone left one person dead and another wounded was "dangerous and unacceptable" police Chief Carmen Best said. Demonstrators have occupied several blocks around the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct and a park for about two weeks after police abandoned the precinct following standoffs and clashes with protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality.
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| These 5 Weapons Made Nazi Germany a Military Superpower Posted: 29 Jun 2020 06:15 AM PDT  Hitler's most fearsome weapons.
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| Robert Jenrick under fresh pressure after whistleblower claims he ignored pleas to block Westferry project Posted: 28 Jun 2020 10:43 AM PDT  Robert Jenrick has found himself under fresh pressure, after a whistleblower claimed he ignored pleas from senior officials to block the controversial Westferry printworks project. The Housing Secretary reportedly overruled objections from civil servants and lawyers to greenlight Tory donor Richard Desmond's £1 billion development in January, with one source saying he showed "total disregard" for the law. Mr Jenrick had weeks earlier watched a promotional video for the luxury East London project on the businessman's mobile phone during a dinner at the Savoy hotel in London. Home Secretary Priti Patel insisted she would not "be watching videos" at Conservative fundraisers when quizzed on the matter on Sunday. Ms Patel also argued that going to Tory events would "absolutely not" help a person's chances in securing planning permission as she described the matter as "closed". She told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "I haven't followed the details of every single decision on this but what I do know and what I can tell you is that the correspondence, the documentation is out in the public domain on this particular application - and rightly so. "The papers have been published, the Secretary of State has followed all issues around transparency. "It has been discussed in Parliament a number of times, questions have been answered on this and the matter is deemed to be closed."
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| Russia's opposition flounders as Putin changes constitution Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:04 PM PDT  Russia's opposition is denouncing this week's vote on President Vladimir Putin's constitutional reforms as a joke, pointing out that copies of the amended basic law are already on sale in Moscow bookshops. From liberal reformers to Communists, Kremlin critics say the vote -- which started last week and ends on Wednesday -- is a thinly veiled attempt to keep Putin, 67, in power for life. Russia's top opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who last summer rallied thousands against suspected voter fraud in Moscow, has also shown little interest in combating the reforms.
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| Canada over worst of coronavirus outbreak, U.S. spike a cause for concern: Trudeau Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Canada is over the worst of the coronavirus outbreak but a spike in cases in the United States and elsewhere shows Canadians must remain vigilant as the economy reopens, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday. "After a very challenging spring things are continuing to move in the right direction," Trudeau told a daily briefing. By contrast, some southern U.S. states are reporting huge jumps in daily cases.
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| Trump news: President praises ‘great people’ shouting ‘white power’ as Pelosi brands his alleged inaction over Russia-Taliban reports ‘as bad as it gets’ Posted: 28 Jun 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Donald Trump has praised "great people" in footage he shared of furious protesters clashing over his presidency outside a Florida retirement home, in which one apparent supporter repeatedly shouts "white power" from a golf buggy.The only black Republican senator Tim Scott urged him to remove the "indefensible" footage, which he later did. The White House claimed he did not hear the racist chant.
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| Despite Police Confrontation, the Queer Liberation March Was a Powerful and Peaceful Call for Justice Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:03 PM PDT  Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of lower Manhattan on Sunday for the Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality, a rallying cry against police violence that combined the spirit of Pride with the ongoing calls of the Black Lives Matter movement. Late afternoon reports on social media showed disturbing moments of confrontation after a largely peaceful march, with the police pushing through crowds of protesters and appearing to detain multiple people.New York City's First Ever Queer Liberation March Showed a New-Old Way to Feel PrideAn NYPD spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast that two people were arrested in the act of graffiting a police vehicle, and that pepper spray was deployed against those who tried to intervene. (The use of pepper spray was "totally allowed," the spokesperson said, as intervening in an arrest is illegal.) Despite videos and social media posts that continue to surface showing police coming after the crowd, a department spokesperson otherwise noted the day's events were peaceful without "widespread reports of violence or anything of that nature." Participants first gathered under the hot midday sun in front of City Hall and made their way north, up past the historic Stonewall Inn and eventually into Washington Square Park. Approaching the West Village, the crowd spanned nearly a dozen city blocks in length.Similar to the many protests that have continued since the death of George Floyd last month, the march was not city-sanctioned but rather fueled by explicit calls to abolish and defund the police.Volunteers directed protesters, held traffic, and passed out supplies, while police presence (on foot, in vehicles and at least one helicopter) occasionally rose up on the route's periphery. Altercations were only reported near the march's endpoint in Washington Square. The event marked the 50th anniversary of the city's first organized march for LGBTQ+ rights (known as Christopher Street Liberation Day) on what was to be New York City's annual day of Pride celebrations. With the official parade canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Queer Liberation March restored the political rigor and intent that characterized Pride from its earliest days, with a robust sense of solidarity and defiance in the face of injustice.New York City Gets Ready for the Battle of the LGBT Pride MarchesThe Queer Liberation March was initially canceled as well, but the grassroots group behind the event, the Reclaim Pride Coalition, decided to remount it in the wake of the ongoing uprising over anti-Black racism."When we saw the eruption of protests, we were reminded of AIDS-era activism," Jon Carter, a member of the coalition, told The Daily Beast. "There are times when physical presence in the streets speaks volumes." Opposing police violence is one of the founding principles of Reclaim Pride, which organized the first Queer Liberation March last year as counter-programming to the city-approved Stonewall 50 Pride parade and accompanying glut of sponsored events and parties. Reclaim Pride's resistance to corporate influence, and most especially to police involvement, this year assumed obvious renewed resonance.New York's 50th LGBTQ Pride March Should Be as Political as Possible"We're tapping into a decades-long intersection" of the broader movements for queer and Black rights, Carter said. Trans women of color Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who spearheaded the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement and have rightfully assumed a central place in its history, were among the trailblazers rendered in effigy, towering 20 feet off the ground on the backs of tireless puppeteers. Carter also pointed out that the founders of Black Lives Matter have personal ties to the queer community. "It's an ongoing relationship that goes back to the Queer Liberation Front collaborating with the Black Panthers in the '60s," Carter told The Daily Beast. "It's always been intersectional." Signs demanding justice for Layleen Polanco, Nina Pop, Islan Nettles, and other trans women of color rose above the crowd, along with powerful statements that pointed to anti-racism as fundamental to queer liberation ("There is no Pride without Black trans lives"). While some participants dressed in the colorful, provocative tradition of Pride, the air was decidedly one of resistance and calls for justice."I'm here to join everyone in fighting for trans lives, especially Black trans lives," said Jordana, 26, cooling off in the shade of an awning near Stonewall. "I'm a trans woman, and this year alone, 16 of us have been killed by hate crimes." If cis white gay men were subject to that kind of violence, "there would be so much more attention," said Jordana, a New York native. "It's so important for us to get out here, even despite the virus, to spread our voice and make the media pay attention to our struggles." The crowd in the street chanted: "They can't deny it, Stonewall was a riot!""I've been going to a lot of Black Lives Matter protests, and I'm a gay person, and I feel we need to be in the streets and fighting for the rights of Black trans people," said Todd, 53, an East Village resident who's been attending Pride events for more than 20 years. "This is what queer Pride should be."In Washington Square Park, where exhausted and exuberant protesters gathered and reconnected, a speaker with a microphone told the growing crowd: "If you're here for a photo opp, you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here to put resources toward saving Black trans bodies, I'm here for that!" Benches filled up and small groups sat together on the grass, recharging in the shade. "This march is not only celebratory, but focused on issues we are still trying to overcome," said Dylan, 20, draped in a trans flag and waiting to meet up with friends. "We're living in a nation where queer life is directly under attack by our government," Carter from Reclaim Pride told The Daily Beast. "The fact that we're able to rally together and play a role in protecting the progress we've made, and insist on further progress—that's cause for celebration," he said. "We have it in our hearts; even in the deepest tragedy, we find ways to bring hope and joy to our lives."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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| Douglas B-26K Bomber Was the Vietnam War’s "Counter Invader" Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:22 AM PDT  A useful bomber.
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| Saharan dust cloud hits Southern states in U.S. already struggling with coronavirus surge Posted: 28 Jun 2020 10:14 AM PDT  Florida in particular faces a greater risk from the dust as the state experiences record-breaking coronavirus numbers, its ICU capacity under 25 percent.
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| India bans TikTok, WeChat and dozens more Chinese apps Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:02 PM PDT  The Indian government says it has banned 59 apps with links to China on national security grounds.
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| Rep. Biggs addresses record-breaking COVID-19 cases Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:37 AM PDT  Arizona sees nearly 3,800 coronavirus cases in one day; Rep. Andy Biggs weighs in.
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| Trump was 'near-sadistic' in phone calls with female world leaders, according to CNN report on classified calls Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:24 PM PDT  Trump's conduct over the phone with world leaders posed a "danger to the national security of the United States," according to intel officials.
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| More Chinese regions brace for floods as storms shift east Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:31 AM PDT  Torrential rain is set to hit China's eastern coastal regions this week after overwhelming large parts of the southwest, inundating villages and tourist spots and displacing more than 700,000 people, state weather forecasters said on Monday. Nearly 14 million people in 26 different provinces had been affected by storms and floods by Friday, with 744,000 evacuated, the China Daily reported, citing the Ministry for Emergency Management. Much of the damage has hit southwestern regions like Guangxi and Sichuan, and the municipality of Chongqing on the upper reaches of the Yangtze river last week experienced its worst floods since 1940.
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| Detroit police SUV drives through crowd after protesters climb on hood Posted: 29 Jun 2020 09:38 AM PDT  The driver activated the overhead lights, then gunned the accelerator, sending two protesters flying onto the pavement as the vehicle sped off.
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| US carriers drill after Southeast Asian nations rebuke China Posted: 29 Jun 2020 12:47 AM PDT  A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple territorial disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons. Two U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike groups are conducting dual operations in the Philippine Sea in a show of the service's ability to rapidly deploy overwhelming force in support of allies locked in disputes with China. "The U.S. Navy regularly conducts integrated strike group operations to support a free and open Indo-Pacific, and promote an international rules-based order wherein each country can reach its potential without sacrificing national sovereignty," the release said.
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| Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar Made Some Serious Space History (Yes, This Plane) Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:24 AM PDT  An exciting watershed.
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| Bob Woodward story on Kavanaugh's veracity 'pulled' during Senate hearings Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:43 AM PDT  Washington Post reportedly quashed a story undermining denial by supreme court justice that he was source for Watergate reporterBrett Kavanaugh lied about not being a source for the Watergate reporter Bob Woodward, but the Washington Post quashed the story while the supreme court justice's confirmation hearings were ongoing, according to the New York Times.Media writer Ben Smith reported the story in a wide-ranging piece on the Post under the leadership of the executive editor, Marty Baron, published late on Sunday.Kavanaugh hit the headlines again on Monday as he and three other conservatives voted in favor of a hardline Louisiana abortion law which the court nonetheless struck down by a narrow 5-4 majority as Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal judges.Kavanaugh was Donald Trump's second nomination to the court, tipping it firmly to the right.According to Smith, during Kavanaugh's tempestuous confirmation hearings in late 2018, the Post was set to run a story in which Woodward outed Kavanaugh as a source for material in one of his books about Ken Starr and his investigation of Bill Clinton.Kavanaugh worked for Starr, the independent counsel who investigated Clinton's affair with a staffer, Monica Lewinsky. In a letter to the Post in 1999, Kavanaugh had publicly denied being the source in question.According to Smith, "two Post journalists who read" Woodward's piece about the affair said it "would have been explosive", given questions about Kavanaugh's integrity that dominated confirmation hearings.Kavanaugh was confirmed by a 50-48 Senate vote, amid huge controversy over allegations from multiple women of sexual assault when he was a student. He strenuously denied all such claims."The article was nearly ready," Smith wrote, citing three unnamed Post employees, "when the executive editor stepped in. Baron urged Woodward not to breach his arrangement with Kavanaugh and to protect his old source's anonymity."Smith added: "Baron and other editors persuaded Woodward that it would be bad for the Post and 'bad for Bob' to disclose a source [and] the piece never ran."Baron did not comment but Smith, citing "people who work with him", also reported that the editor's opposition to the story "wasn't about favoring Kavanaugh, or being afraid of a fight"."Publishing the article," Smith wrote, "would simply violate the traditional principle that sources should be protected [and] would veer into an uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing new form of journalism and, in Baron's view, imperil the reputation" of the Post.With Carl Bernstein, Woodward broke the story of the Watergate scandal, leading to the resignation of Richard Nixon in August 1974. The two reporters famously protected the identity of their main source, known as "Deep Throat", and only revealed it to have been Mark Felt after the senior FBI official died in 2008.Woodward is set to publish a second book on Donald Trump. The sequel to Fear, a 2018 bestseller, will include interviews with the president.
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