| Democrats accuse Trump appointee of destroying Postal Service Posted: 24 Aug 2020 02:32 PM PDT  Democrats used a Monday hearing on Capitol Hill to savage U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, whom they accused of intentionally sabotaging the nation's postal system in order to help President Trump's reelection prospects.
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| Joe Biden 'has not been tested' for COVID-19 but his campaign is confident 'he has not had the virus' Posted: 23 Aug 2020 02:17 PM PDT  A campaign official said Biden has followed the "strictest protocols" to prevent exposure and that those around him undergo 'the appropriate testing.'
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| Far-right Proud Boys supporters clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland Posted: 23 Aug 2020 06:40 AM PDT  Footage of the protest Saturday shows protesters battling with projectiles and batons as police face criticism for not intervening.
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| California wildfires: Death toll rises as thousands of residents urged to evacuate Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:34 AM PDT  A 70-year-old man died in California on Sunday as huge wildfires continued to tear through the state.Authorities said the victim was discovered near Last Chance Road, Santa Cruz County as the CZU Complex Fire caused widespread damage in the area.
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| Wife of ex-California congressman sentenced for corruption Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:57 AM PDT  The wife of former California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter was sentenced Monday in U.S. court to eight months of home confinement after pleading guilty to misusing more than $150,000 in campaign funds in a corruption case that ended her husband's career. Government attorneys noted Margaret Hunter's cooperation with the prosecution of her husband in arguing against putting her behind bars and for allowing her to serve the sentence at home.
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| 10 Best Drones for Kids, According to Engineers Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:26 AM PDT |
| Scott Peterson's death sentence overturned by California supreme court Posted: 24 Aug 2020 01:22 PM PDT  The California Supreme Court on Monday upheld the conviction but overturned the 2005 death sentence for Scott Peterson in the slaying of his pregnant wife, and said prosecutors may try again for the same sentence if they wish in the case that attracted worldwide attention.
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| Iowa State University forced a professor to change his syllabus after he threatened to kick students out of class if they participate in racism, sexism, or homophobia Posted: 24 Aug 2020 12:50 PM PDT  The syllabus said "arguments against gay marriage, abortion, Black Lives Matter" will be "grounds for dismissal from the classroom."
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| Rumors about Kim Jong Un dying are going viral again, but experts say not to believe them Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:04 AM PDT  A former South Korean minister claimed that Kim was in a coma, triggering a wave of social media posts speculating on his death.
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| Ted Cruz is 'just a coward' for backing Trump, former aide Rick Tyler says Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:23 PM PDT  Rick Tyler, a leading Republican analyst and so-called Never Trumper, told Yahoo News on Monday that his former boss Sen. Ted Cruz is "just a coward" for publicly supporting Trump even though he knows he's a bad president.
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| Gulf storms: Marco and Laura head towards US after ravaging Caribbean Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:15 PM PDT  The storms have already ripped through the Caribbean, destroying homes and killing at least 12.
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| Professor, NASA researcher accused of concealing China ties Posted: 24 Aug 2020 11:00 AM PDT |
| UPS driver randomly shot at vehicles along interstate in Oregon, police say Posted: 24 Aug 2020 08:00 AM PDT  The man is being held on $1 million bail.
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| Libya strongman labels GNA ceasefire announcement a stunt Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:26 AM PDT  A spokesman for eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar has slammed a ceasefire announcement by the rival Government of National Accord (GNA) as a media stunt, accusing it of preparing a new offensive.
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| A 23-year-old Fort Hood soldier who has been missing for a week had reported sexual abuse before his disappearance Posted: 24 Aug 2020 11:28 AM PDT  Sgt. Elder Fernandes, 23, was last seen on August 17 when his staff sergeant dropped him off at his home in Killeen, Texas.
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| 56 people got the coronavirus at a Starbucks in South Korea. The only people who didn’t were employees wearing masks. Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:06 AM PDT  A Starbucks in South Korea has reported a coronavirus outbreak after an infected person sat near an air conditioner. Employees wearing masks were safe
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| White House attacks Trump's sister, niece over leaked audio tapes Posted: 23 Aug 2020 07:50 AM PDT  White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sharply criticized President Trump's sister and niece on Sunday, a day after the Washington Post published leaked audio recordings of conversations of the two Trump relatives insulting the president.
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| Louisiana protesters call for Lafayette mayor-president to resign after police shooting Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:09 AM PDT  Protesters gathered for the second night after Trayford Pellerin's death, first in front of Lafayette City Hall and later with several demonstrations.
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| Biden, Harris to get routine virus testing, a notable change Posted: 24 Aug 2020 02:34 PM PDT  In a notable change, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, will now be regularly tested for the coronavirus as the race heats up, a campaign aide confirmed Monday. "This announcement is another step demonstrating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' commitment to turn the page on Trump's catastrophic mismanagement during the worst public health crisis in 100 years," said Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates.
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| The Next Dangerous Front in ISIS’ Holy War Posted: 24 Aug 2020 01:29 AM PDT  ABUJA, Nigeria—In recent months, Islamist militant groups in Africa allied to the so-called Islamic State have been on the rampage—attacking communities, slaughtering aid workers and seizing important government assests.Since ISIS was squeezed out of its self-proclaimed caliphate in the Middle East last year, its offshoots—particularly those in West and Central Africa—seem to be waxing even stronger.In the last five months, about 100 Nigerian and Chadian soldiers have been killed in deadly attacks by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) around the Lake Chad region (an area in the Sahelian zone of west-central Africa with a freshwater lake at the conjunction of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger). Since late July, the group has murdered several humanitarian workers in Nigeria and are suspected of slaughtering French aid workers in Niger. And after a series of attacks early this year in northwestern Nigeria, the Nigerian government was forced to admit last month that the terror group, which usually operates in the northeastern part of the country, does have a foothold in the northwest region.She Flew Missions Against ISIS-Backed Terrorists—and Died in a Suspicious 'Accident'The Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP), which is active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and northern Mozambique, has been even more deadly in 2020 than any period of its existence. In the first half of this year, about 447 people died in jihadists attacks—far more than 2019, which saw 309 attacks result in 660 deaths, according to a report by the Babel Street which cited the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project. Much of ISCAP's attacks this year have been in rural and semi-urban communities in northern Mozambique. But last week's attack on the commercial town of Mocímboa da Praia in which many Mozambican soldiers were killed and the local port was seized indicates that the group is extending beyond its traditional areas of operation.One reason why ISIS-backed groups appear to be succeeding in Africa is because they adopt the approach of cultivating relationships with locals to exert great influence rather than fighting to gain territories and govern with brutality like the main Islamic State did in Iraq and Syria.In Nigeria, for example, ISWAP—which broke away from Boko Haram in 2016 because the latter failed to heed to instructions from ISIS, which included ignoring warnings against the use of children as suicide bombers—continually assures Muslims in the conflict-hit northeastern region of its commitment to protecting them from armed elements in the region so as to win their support and loyalty. The group learned from Boko Haram's loss of territorial control and influence in the northeast and does not at the moment seek to acquire land, which would make it easy to target. Rather, ISWAP is taking advantage of its relationship with the locals—offering them loans and allowing them to live freely in their communities—to recruit fighters and target Nigerian security forces in a way that makes it hard for its militants to be caught, as they blend in with the local population. And the fact that dozens of Nigerian soldiers, including 20 in June and 13 in July, have been killed in recent months indicates that ISWAP's plan is working and that the group is a major threat to the stability of the West African region. ISWAP's growth in Niger is another example of how it has built close ties with local communities to pursue its jihadist agenda. The U.S. felt the bad effect of this relationship when ISWAP fighters—then operating under the name Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS)—ambushed American Special Forces service members in an attack on Oct. 3, 2017 that left four Green Berets dead in the southwestern village of Tongo Tongo, after a villager tipped off militants to the presence of U.S. soldiers in the area. As I wrote for The Daily Beast after the attack, the ISGS won the hearts of the locals when it began to provide financial assistance to villagers and protection from rustlers who often stole their cattle and other livestock. The group then used the opportunity to convince these villagers to develop hatred for America, giving them the false impression that the U.S. was building a drone station in Central Niger to use to target the area. And as the world paid more attention to ISIS in Syria, the ISGS spread into neighboring Burkina Faso using the same method it adopted in Niger and tested on the Americans. Today, the group, which has adopted the ISWAP brand, has become a very complex unit to target, as it receives wide support from the local population. In Mozambique, ISCAP, which operates in the predominantly Muslim northern region that has long suffered from high levels of poverty and alleged government discrimination, took advantage of the economic and social marginalization suffered by people of the Kimwani tribe, where the majority of its fighters come from, to recruit members with financial incentives. One report noted that the promise of monthly wages to incoming members helped ISCAP, a group that emerged from the local sect, Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamo (ASWJ) ("adherents of the prophetic tradition"), to expand its operations.The strategy is almost the same in Egypt where ISIS network of cells have blended into a number of Egyptian communities and use their presence there to wage a sectarian war in the country by killing Christians with the goal of denting the glue which holds Egypt together, thereby creating instability. And as long as the government continues to allow the country's security gap to expand, ISIS will continue to have its way. The terror organization is also active in Tunisia and Somalia where its franchises have inserted themselves into local conflicts. And even though they are not the dominating jihadist group in both countries, they play a crucial role to the instability in their respective regions. ISIS African affiliates are known to operate mostly in multi-border areas, where they capitalize on ethnic and religious divides to draw followers from bitterly aggrieved groups. Having an expansive area of operations in border territories, as a former Navy Signals Intelligence Analyst Brian M. Perkins noted in his article for The Jamestown Foundation, allows Islamic State groups "to more easily conduct hit and run style attacks, avoid head-to-head military operations, and draw from a larger recruiting pool." And because controlling territories—like ISIS did in the Middle East—does not appear to be paramount to the Islamic State franchises in Africa, it is extremely difficult for government forces to target these groups, as their fighters have mixed with the local population in the places they are active. ISIS may have lost ground in the Middle East, but it is definitely not diminishing in Africa. The organization is taking a different shape in the continent. The new-look ISIS is not territory-drunk and is opening room for alliances with new groups including al Qaeda, as we've seen in the Sahel where a coalition of al Qaeda loyalists called Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and ISWAP are working hand in hand to dominate villages. And as long as sectarianism, political conflicts, and ethnic violence continue to increase in Africa, ISIS' chances of expanding will grow even higher.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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| Top California court overturns death penalty of Scott Peterson, who murdered pregnant wife Posted: 24 Aug 2020 01:56 PM PDT  Scott Peterson, the California man convicted of murdering his wife and unborn son during a sensational 2004 trial, won a reversal of his death penalty on Monday after the state's top court ruled that the trial judge had erred in jury selection. The ruling means that Peterson, who has been held on death row at San Quentin State prison since 2005, has the right to a new penalty phase of his trial. California has not executed a condemned inmate since 2006.
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| Israeli teens find 1,000-year-old gold coins Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:06 AM PDT  Hundreds of gold coins that are more than 1,000 years old have been unearthed in Israel.
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| US blasts WTO ruling in decades-old Canada lumber dispute Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:34 AM PDT  The United States slammed a World Trade Organization ruling Monday that favored Canada in a longstanding battle over lumber imports, holding the case up as further justification for Washington's campaign to drastically reform the global trade body.
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| Driver Pulled from Truck, Beaten by Black Lives Matter Crowd in Portland Speaks Out Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:46 AM PDT  Adam Haner, the driver who was dragged from his pick-up truck and beaten by rioters in Portland last week, is questioning the motives of protestors, saying "they're exhibiting the same behavior that they're trying to stop."Haner's comments came during a Saturday appearance on Fox News' "Watters World" during which he explained that he and his girlfriend, Tammie Martin, had been attempting to aid a woman they saw being robbed when the attack occurred. His good deed left him with black eyes, head lacerations and injuries to his ribs and legs last Sunday. A crowd of Black Lives Matter and Antifia rioters surrounded Haner's truck around 10:30 p.m. after he crashed into a light pole at Southwest Broadway and Taylor Street. At least one individual punched him as he sat inside before he was pulled out of the vehicle and attacked."I warned everyone to get out of my way when I did start my truck," Haner said. "I'd been down there long enough. They knew when my truck started, to get out of the way. I was down there for a lengthy amount of time. I managed not to hurt anyone while I was down there, but myself, evidently. I can't say the same for them."Haner called out Democratic mayor Ted Wheeler, who has given into protestors' demands to defund the police, for the police's slow response time. He said it took 10 minutes for help to arrive, "kind of a long response time for my issue down there." Police had deployed a large law enforcement response and encountered "a hostile crowd," at the scene, the department said earlier. Haner then took aim at the rioters, saying, "I thought that's what they were down there trying to fight, was this kind of behavior toward them, but they're exhibiting the same behavior that they're trying to stop."He was attacked by a mob of rioters, but the man who allegedly delivered a final crushing kick to Haner, 25-year-old Marquise Love, was arrested Friday and charged with felonious assault, riot participation, and coercion. A video appears to show Love punching Haner several times before kicking his head from behind, knocking him out and causing his head to bleed after it hit the street.Haner's attack is the latest in a series of violent demonstrations that have plagued the city and led to the deployment of federal agents — who have since been withdrawn — following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody earlier this summer.
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| Hannity infuriated colleagues by pre-recording his Fox News show the night Trump was impeached: book Posted: 24 Aug 2020 01:00 PM PDT  "There's no one in the building, except maybe Rupert [Murdoch], who can tell Sean to knock it off"
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| Despite Trump's claims, acting DHS chief says department has no authority to send agents to polling sites Posted: 23 Aug 2020 11:06 AM PDT  President Trump this week said he would send sheriffs, law enforcement officials, and U.S. attorneys to polling stations to guard against voter fraud in November's election. Analysts questioned whether he has the authority to do that since actions that could be interpreted as intimidating voters are prohibited. If anything still remained uncertain, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf cleared it up Sunday.Wolf confirmed to CNN's Jake Tapper that his department has "expressed authorities given to us by Congress" and deploying federal law enforcement to polling sites "is not one of them." Wolf also said Trump has "absolutely" not discussed the idea with him.> Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf says the President has not discussed deploying law enforcement agents from his department to polling locations. "That's not what we do at the Department of Homeland Security." https://t.co/B5wCINmJAO CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/P0tn2nL05S> > -- State of the Union (@CNNSotu) August 23, 2020White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump misspoke and the president simply wants to ensure voters can safely cast their ballots, regardless of whether they're voting for Trump, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, or any other candidate. Meadows implied it wasn't voter fraud that inspired Trump's comments, but concerns about "aggressive behavior" brought on by coronavirus pandemic measures like social distancing. "If the judges at those polling places need any kind of security we're going to make sure they have the resources," he said. > White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says law enforcement will not be sent to polling locations on Election Day, except to provide security when requested:> > "To the extent that we're going to deploy thousands of sheriffs, no, we're not going to do that." pic.twitter.com/AsypRYhsgS> > -- JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) August 23, 2020More stories from theweek.com Melania Trump reportedly taped making 'disparaging' remarks about president and his children The Powerpuff Girls will be 'disillusioned 20-somethings' full of resentment in a live-action reboot Jerry Falwell Jr. says his wife had an affair with the Florida 'pool boy,' claims they were being blackmailed
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| 'Absolutely repugnant': Biden's campaign forcefully disavows an endorsement from neo-Nazi Richard Spencer Posted: 24 Aug 2020 12:38 PM PDT  A Biden campaign staffer tweeted that what Spencer stands for is "absolutely repugnant," adding, "Your support is 10,000% percent unwelcome here."
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| US signals it will deport Colombian warlord to Italy Posted: 24 Aug 2020 01:59 PM PDT  Attorneys for the Justice Department signaled the U.S. would deport a former Colombian paramilitary warlord to Italy within the next two weeks despite a last-minute challenge by the South American nation to seek his extradition. The announcement came in a hearing Monday in Washington, DC federal court in which Salvatore Mancuso was seeking a judge's order to force Attorney General William Barr to immediately remove him to Italy, where he also has citizenship, after completing a 12-year narcotics sentence in March. Mancuso, the former top commander of the United Defense Forces of Colombia, known as the AUC, argued that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have "illegally detained" Mancuso beyond the maximum 90 days allowed for the removal of aliens, according to a pre-hearing memorandum filed by his attorneys.
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| Sinabung volcano spews new burst of hot ash Posted: 23 Aug 2020 01:18 AM PDT  Villagers advised to stay three miles from the crater's mouth and be aware of lava.
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| Businesses damaged, vehicles burned in Wisconsin after Kenosha police officer shoots Black man Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:20 AM PDT  Vehicles were burned and several businesses' windows shattered during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after the shooting of a Black man there Sunday.
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| Man who believed virus was hoax loses wife to Covid-19 Posted: 24 Aug 2020 10:10 AM PDT  A couple from Florida did not follow health guidelines after believing lies about the virus online.
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| Long delays at U.S.-Mexico border crossings after new travel restrictions Posted: 24 Aug 2020 02:12 PM PDT  Americans who regularly cross the border from Mexico reported long wait times to re-enter the United States on Monday after U.S. officials imposed new COVID-19-related restrictions on cross-border travel by U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The U.S. government closed lanes at select ports of entry on the border and began conducting more secondary checks to limit non-essential travel and slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said on Friday. According to CBP data, wait times at some border crossings have since doubled or tripled.
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| Army awards Air-Launched Effects contracts for future helicopters Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:16 PM PDT  Ten companies will provide air vehicles, payloads and mission systems to the Army that will make up prototypes intended to launch from current and future vertical lift platforms to perform a wide variety of missions.
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| Fact check: Over 8,000 US trafficking arrests since 2017 have not included members of Congress Posted: 24 Aug 2020 12:54 PM PDT  Claims online of 3,100 arrests for human trafficking in the U.S. since 2017, including 38 members of Congress, are false.
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| A long history of militant activism keeps protests alive in Portland Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  The protesters defend the nightly taunting of police, along with vandalism and destruction of property, as a strategy to draw officers into clashes and expose them as fascists.
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| American Airlines' new plane disinfectant works for a full week, but doesn't stop the main way COVID-19 spreads Posted: 24 Aug 2020 01:48 PM PDT  The EPA issued an emergency authorization for American Airlines to use a new anti-microbial spray which is reportedly effective for a full week.
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| Giuliani: We're headed for a very left administration with Biden Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:24 AM PDT  Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani weighs in on Biden's agenda, expectations for the RNC.
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| Revved by Sturgis Rally, COVID-19 infections move fast, far Posted: 24 Aug 2020 02:30 PM PDT  The hundreds of thousands of bikers who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have departed western South Dakota, but public health departments in multiple states are trying to measure how much and how quickly the coronavirus spread in bars, tattoo shops and gatherings before people traveled home to nearly every state in the country. From the city of Sturgis, which is conducting mass testing for its roughly 7,000 residents, to health departments in at least six states, health officials are trying to track outbreaks from the 10-day rally which ended on Aug. 16. An analysis of anonymous cell phone data from Camber Systems, a firm that aggregates cell phone activity for health researchers, found that 61% of all the counties in the U.S. have been visited by someone who attended Sturgis, creating a travel hub that was comparable to a major U.S. city.
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| Jeremy Corbyn failed to empathise with British Jews because they are 'prosperous' Posted: 24 Aug 2020 10:22 AM PDT  Jeremy Corbyn failed to empathise with British Jews because they are "prosperous", a former ally has said in a new anti-Semitism row. Andrew Murray, who was a senior adviser to the former Labour leader, insisted Mr Corbyn was "empathetic", but with those in society who are "at the bottom of the heap". According to the new book Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour under Corbyn, Mr Murray said: "He is very empathetic, Jeremy, but he's empathetic with the poor, the disadvantaged, the migrant, the marginalised, the people at the bottom of the heap."
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| 'First of Many:' Air Force Leaders Watch Flying Car Demo Posted: 24 Aug 2020 11:02 AM PDT  The Hexa is an eVTOL platform that consists of an open cockpit seat surrounded by a honeycomb of small rotors.
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| Texas, Louisiana brace as Tropical Storm Laura pegged to gather force Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:48 AM PDT  Residents along the U.S. Gulf Coast prepared for what could be deadly winds, rains, and storm surges. Laura comes on the heels of Tropical Storm Marco, which weakened sooner than expected. The rare threat of two possible hurricanes in the Gulf at once, however, took nearly 10% of the United States' crude oil production offline, as energy companies shuttered operations to ride out the weather.
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| Sudan's Jabal Maragha: Illegal gold diggers destroy ancient site Posted: 24 Aug 2020 11:16 AM PDT  The 2,000-year-old Jabal Maragha site was thought to have been a small settlement or a checkpoint.
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| Here are the prominent Republicans not supporting Trump, and those who are supporting Biden Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:03 PM PDT  Several notable Republicans have publicly endorsed or shown support for Joe Biden instead of their party's incumbent, President Donald Trump.
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| Researchers report 1st confirmed cases of coronavirus reinfection Posted: 24 Aug 2020 06:53 AM PDT  Contracting coronavirus once may not be the end of the road we once thought it could be.Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, doctors have reported that some patients have seemingly contracted coronavirus, recovered from it, and contracted it again. But coronavirus reinfections hadn't been confirmed until Monday, when researchers in Hong Kong announced a recovered coronavirus patient had contracted the disease again.The patient in question was a 33-year-old man who only had mild coronavirus symptoms the first time around, The New York Times reports. COVID-19 patients are usually considered recovered when they test negative for the virus multiple times. But after a trip to Spain, this recovered patient tested positive for the virus again despite showing no symptoms. Researchers tested the second virus to confirm it wasn't just "viral shedding" from the first infection, Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang To, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said in a statement. The testing revealed the second virus stemmed from a strain making its way around Europe in July and August, strongly suggesting it wasn't a lingering bit of the first virus the man picked up in Hong Kong.The research will have consequences for the coronavirus vaccines under development around the world. It also blows holes in arguments for herd immunity: the idea of letting people contract coronavirus so they develop antibodies to prevent further infection, eventually eradicating the disease as if there were a vaccine. Sweden tried to take this approach, but ended up with far more COVID-19 deaths than its neighbors and "no economic gains" to show for it, economists said. Now, it seems possible Sweden developed no immunity to show for it, either.More stories from theweek.com Melania Trump reportedly taped making 'disparaging' remarks about president and his children The Powerpuff Girls will be 'disillusioned 20-somethings' full of resentment in a live-action reboot Jerry Falwell Jr. says his wife had an affair with the Florida 'pool boy,' claims they were being blackmailed
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| Trump Admin Puts COVID-Wracked Meat Processor on Food Safety Panel Posted: 24 Aug 2020 01:26 AM PDT  The Brazilian meat conglomerate that presided over an alleged "work while sick" culture at a plant in Colorado and deadly COVID-19 cluster at a facility in Nebraska during the early months of the pandemic will now be advising the federal government on health policies.The U.S. Department of Agriculture, an arm of President Donald Trump's administration, announced last week that it had appointed Sherri Williams, a health overseer at JBS, to its National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection. This panel provides recommendations directly to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on oversight matters."Their expertise and advice play a key role in informing USDA's food safety decisions to ensure the U.S continues to have one of the safest food systems in the world," Undersecretary for Food Safety Dr. Mindy Brashears said in a release accompanying the announcement. The appointment comes just months after JBS had to temporarily idle meat mills in Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania because of outbreaks of the novel coronavirus among their workers. The company also suffered severe rashes of the disease in its facilities in Utah and Texas, and its uniquely troubled history made the appointment a remarkable one during a still-raging pandemic.At JBS' Greeley, Colorado, plant in particular, local health officials reported discovering a "work while sick culture" that kept employees working the line even after they began to feel unwell. More than 300 of the plant's workers tested positive for COVID-19 and at least eight meat handlers succumbed to the ailment. The outbreak was so severe it even grabbed the attention of the White House, which promised to deploy special assistance to the location—although the union representing workers there reported that aid has still not arrived.JBS maintained at the time that it obligated the ill to remain home and had instituted testing and safety protocols to protect its labor force.While JBS is hardly the only meat processor to witness horrific outbreaks amid the global pandemic, it has an unusually lurid history with hygiene and government oversight. Headquartered in São Paulo, JBS was one of more than two dozen companies caught up in a 2017 sting in the South American nation. Authorities in "Operation Weak Flesh" asserted they had caught the processors bribing inspectors, selling expired meat to schools and consumers, and treating their product with illegal fillers and carcinogenic chemicals.JBS denied at the time it had committed any quality violations. However, the company's executives and biggest shareholders, Joesley and Wesley Batista—whose family founded JBS—were simultaneously ensnared in an even larger corruption scandal, Operation Car Wash. The pair confessed to bribing nearly 2,000 Brazilian politicians.The news of Williams' appointment to the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection provoked outrage from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), one of the company's most vocal critics."The appointment of a JBS official to the USDA's National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection is a slap in the face to farmers and ranchers across America," Pocan said. "This corporation has no businesses dictating the safety of meat and poultry across America, this is Donald Trump's corporate cronyism personified." The USDA did not reply to a request for comment. But in a statement to The Daily Beast, JBS defended its own record and Williams."As anyone who knows her will tell you, Ms. Williams is an accomplished expert and a credit to her family, the food safety profession and American agriculture," said spokeswoman Nikki Richardson, who noted that the company's American division had not been implicated in the Brazilian scandal. "JBS USA has not been accused of any wrongdoing regarding the events in Brazil in 2017."JBS had previously come under attack from politicians in both parties after the firm received $67 million in federal assistance intended to bolster farmers struggling amid the president's trade war with China.The firm was the only meat processor named to the committee last week. Most of the rest of the appointees hailed from universities, consumer groups, and trade organizations—with the only other private companies added to the roster being distributor U.S. Foods and Pride of the Pond, a small seafood company from Mississippi. The sole meat processor already on the panel was Pilgrim's Pride, of which JBS is a majority shareholder. JBS is thus also set to be the only entity to control two of the committee's seats.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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| Stolen branch on Yellowstone visitor’s SUV leads ranger to more illegal cargo, feds say Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:10 PM PDT  The driver had already visited multiple national parks in several states, court documents said.
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| Cyprus denies new allegations in "golden passport" scheme Posted: 23 Aug 2020 11:57 AM PDT  Cyprus on Sunday denied fresh allegations that it was granting citizenship to foreigners accused of crimes in exchange for millions in investments, insisting that all those who received a passport met all criteria in place at the time. The Cypriot parliament last month beefed up the eligibility criteria for the so-called "golden passport" investment program, which has brought billions in revenue since its introduction following a 2013 financial crisis. The program has attracted many investors because a passport from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus automatically grants its holder citizenship to the entire 27-member European Union.
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