Sonic boom heard in Paris and suburbs caused by fighter jet breaking sound barrier

A loud blast heard throughout Paris on Wednesday briefly caused panic as edgy residents feared a bombing five days after a terrorist attack outside the former offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The noise was caused by a sonic boom as a military jet broke the speed of sound, police said. Pierre Duclos, who was in a café around the corner from the site of the attack on Friday when the explosion-like noise was heard, said: “Everyone looked at each other and a few people got up and went outside. For a while, we thought another terrorist attack was coming and we were all shocked. Some people asked the café owner to close and lock the door. I was here on Friday and frankly I was really worried again today.

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Mitch McConnell ‘refusing to debate his election rival if there is a female moderator’

‘He continues to resist allowing women to host debates,’ said McConnell’s opponent in the Kentucky Senate race

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The U.S. is once again giving away 55,000 green cards to foreigners. It’s simple and free.

The U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday that it will officially open registration for the Diversity Visa Program for Fiscal Year 2022 (DV-2022), better known as the visa lottery.

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Germany walks away from Lockheed, Boeing cargo helicopter offers

The surprise decision halts an acquisition race that was scheduled to a see a contract awarded in 2021.

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San Jose officer facing assault charge in violent arrest of driver

Video contradicted the officer's claim that the driver resisted commands, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said.

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‘Fox & Friends’ Hosts Look On in Horror as Rudy Giuliani Blurts Out Biden Dementia Conspiracy Theory

Everyone knows that live television isn’t easy. Anything can go wrong—from a faulty connection, a verbal slip-up, or, as was the case on Tuesday morning’s Fox & Friends, Rudy Giuliani bellowing insane conspiracy theories at the nation with no obvious way to stop him.It’s always a risk to allow Giuliani to share his wildly unpredictable stream of consciousness live. The man who was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2001 has long since been reduced to sharing the latest Trumpist conspiracy theories on any cable news channel that has the budget to cover any possible subsequent defamation lawsuits.This time, his F&F hosts looked on with visible horror in their eyes as Giuliani shared his completely baseless belief that Joe Biden is suffering from dementia. If you have the time, it’s worth watching the clip at least three times so you can see each of the hosts panicking in their own unique way as the former New York City mayor rambles on and on.> On Fox & Friends, Rudy Giuliani says Joe Biden "has dementia. There's no doubt about it. I've talked to doctors. ... The president's quite right to say maybe he's taken adderall." The hosts get visibly uncomfortable. pic.twitter.com/2Ma7DKNBpS> > — Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) September 29, 2020With a mischievous cackle, Giuliani began: “The man [Biden] has dementia. There’s no doubt about it. I’ve talked to doctors. I’ve had them look at a hundred different tapes of his five years ago and today.” Trying his very best to shut Giuliani down, host Steve Doocy interjected that Biden’s team has said the Democrat has no serious medical problems.Giuliani then made an extraordinary noise at Doocy that can best be typed as “Oowughawughawugh,” before continuing: “He can’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance and he’s fine? He was in the Senate for 160 years? I mean, he can’t do the prologue to the... to the... con... to the... uh... Constitution of the United States or the Declaration of Independence, any of them.”Getting louder and increasingly excited about his armchair diagnosis, Giuliani went on: “He can’t do NUMBERS. Wow, are the numbers screwed up. He actually displays symptoms that two gerontologists told me are classic symptoms of middle level dementia.” Doocy and co-host Ainsley Earhardt both responded to that claim by softly saying, “Right.” The third host, Brian Kilmeade, can just be seen blinking rapidly.Fox News Lobotomizes Its ‘Brain Room,’ Cuts Fact-Based JournalismNevertheless, Giuliani persisted. “That’s when [Biden] does that ‘I pledge allegiance to the United States... uh... uh... um... I think,’ he’s done that twice,” said the ex mayor. “That’s a classic symptom in the DSM-V, it’s the fifth symptom, of dementia, he’s got eight of the 10.”Then, seemingly remembering that he was on the show to talk about tonight’s presidential debate, he went on: “Look, that isn’t the debate. He can get through it. I think the president is quite right to say maybe he’s taken Adderall or some kind of attention deficit disorder thing.”As Giuliani began pulling prescription medicine brands out of the air, Doocy had finally had enough and told him firmly, “None of us are doctors, that is your opinion.” Giuliani fought back, saying it was actually the opinion of some very professional-sounding doctors that he knows.But the game was up. Kilmeade, in his first verbal interjection of the entire exchange, said with exasperation, “We can stay away from that.” Earhardt then moved on to pick Giuliani’s brain on the Supreme Court.This particular line of attack is one that Giuliani—whose work as President Trump’s lawyer and top dirt-digger on Hunter and Joe Biden kicked off a chain of events that got his client impeached last year—has enthusiastically embraced as one of his primary functions now for Team Trump.Shortly before midnight on Monday night, Giuliani started texting The Daily Beast to say that Trump did “great” in recent White House debate prep (for which the president said on Sunday that Giuliani and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie took part), and to rail against Biden as a “senile,” “broken down old crook” who’s supposedly suffering from “dementia” and needs “ADD drugs” to get through the Tuesday debate. The Trump attorney also claimed that someone had told him how stupid Biden was in law school.Giuliani also mentioned late Monday evening that he’d be flying with Trump on Air Force One on Tuesday and would be at the Cleveland debate. Asked about what kinds of questions he peppered the president with during the prep, the former New York City mayor replied, “It really doesn’t work like that with him. It’s much more of a discussion rather than a rehearsal. Plus you are dealing with a very smart, very alert human being, not a senile old man.”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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White House says there's no need to clarify Trump's response to white supremacists debate question

President Trump's team doesn't think he did anything wrong at Tuesday's night's debate, especially when it came to denouncing white supremacists.Trump's refusal to denounce far-right extremists led even Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade to declare the president blew "the biggest layup in the history of debates" and ask Trump to "clear it up." But when Fox News tried to do just that with White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah on Wednesday morning, Farah said "I don't think that there's anything to clarify. He told them to stand back."> Sandra Smith: "The president saying, 'Proud Boys, stand back and stand by', does the White House or the president want to clarify or explain what he meant by that, because they're celebrating it, the group."> > WH Comms director: "I don't think that there's anything to clarify." pic.twitter.com/Qome1VjVmY> > — Lis Power (@LisPower1) September 30, 2020Trump campaign press secretary Hogan Gidley also didn't think there was anything wrong with Trump telling the far-right Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by." "He wants them to get out of the way," Gidley said.> “He wants [Proud Boys] to get out of the way. He wants them to not do the things they say they want to do. This is a reprehensible group,” says the Trump campaign press secretary Hogan Gidley on what Trump meant during the debate when he asked the far-right group to “stand by.” pic.twitter.com/J3sHZ0LRJb> > — New Day (@NewDay) September 30, 2020But Proud Boy members didn't take it that way. As NBC News reports, the group's chat rooms and social media accounts lit up with praise for Trump after his refusal to denounce them, and some even turned Trump's words into a meme and rallying cry, calling Trump the "general of the Proud Boys."More stories from theweek.com 3 reasons the stakes for the NBA Finals are extra high GOP Sen. Tim Scott calls for Trump to correct his Proud Boys comments: 'If he doesn't correct it, I guess he didn't misspeak' Trump pummels Biden — and America

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Men flock to military recruitment centers in Azerbaijan during a partial mobilisation

SHOTLIST BAKU, AZERBAIJANSEPTEMBER 29, 2020SOURCE: AFPTV 1. Wide shot men queueing in front of a military recruitment centre2. Wide shot men queueing in front of a military recruitment centre3. Wide shot men queueing in front of a military recruitment centre4. Wide shot man wrapped in Azerbaijan flag in crowd5. Wide shot people waiting in hall 6. SOUNDBITE 1 - Mirkamran Hashimli (male, Azerbaijani, 16 sec): "This is a very proud feeling. Of course, as other zealous citizens of the republic, I do not regret going to fulfill this task wholeheartedly and through my own choice. I hope Karabakh is ours, it will be ours!" 7. Cutaway: Wide shot man holding passport 8. Cutaway: Wide shot passports on table 9. Cutaway: Mid shot man registering 10. SOUNDBITE 2 - Shaddin Rustamov (male, Azerbaijani, 18 sec): "That is a very proud feeling. That is something we have been waiting for a long time. It's something we've been waiting for for 25 years. Hopefully this year will be the last. Future generations will rest in Kalbajar and Shusha." 11. Cutaway: Wide shot people waiting in recruitment station hall 12. Cutaway: Wide shot men seated 13. Mid shot officer calling out names of conscripts 14. Wide shot man getting on bus15. Wide shot men getting on bus ///-----------------------------------------------------------AFP TEXT STORY: CHRONOEscalation in disputed Nagorny KarabakhParis, Sept 29, 2020 (AFP) - Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan mainly inhabited by Armenians, has since Sunday been the scene of deadly clashes which have sparked international concern.Here is a timeline: - 'Counter-offensive' - Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus, have accused each other of initiating deadly clashes, the worst since 2016, that broke out on Sunday in their decades-long territorial dispute.Ethnic Armenian separatists seized the Nagorny Karabakh region from Baku in a 1990s war that claimed 30,000 lives. Since then, clashes have been a regular occurence between Azerbaijani troops and the rebels, but also between Baku and Yerevan.On Sunday, Azerbaijan's defence ministry said it launched a "counter offensive to suppress Armenia's combat activity and ensure the safety of the population."The enclave's separatist authorities claimed its troops shot down two Azerbaijani helicopters and three drones. Azerbaijan says it has just lost one helicopter.Talks to resolve one of the worst conflicts to emerge from the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union have been largely stalled since a 1994 ceasefire agreement.France, Russia and the United States have mediated peace efforts as the "Minsk Group" but the last big push for a peace deal collapsed in 2010. - 'Mobilisation' - From the announcement of the first clashes, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Nagorny Karabakh authorities declare martial law and military mobilisation.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a firm supporter of Azerbaijan and has poor relations with Armenia, promises Baku support.Yerevan and the Nagorny Karabakh authorities denounce Turkish "meddling" and accuse Ankara of providing weapons, military specialists and pilots of drones and planes to Azerbaijan. Pashinyan says "we are on the brink of a full-scale war in the South Caucasus, which might have unpredictable consequences". Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev promises to win against Armenian and separatist forces. - International concern - International reaction is quick, with former Soviet-era master Moscow calling for an immediate ceasefire and talks between the arch-rivals.The European Union warns regional powers not to interfere in the fighting and condemns a "serious escalation" that threatens regional stability.The United States urges "both sides to cease hostilities immediately".Iran says it is ready to launch talks between the two neighbouring sides. - Positions lost - By late Sunday, Azerbaijan says it has retaken a handful of villages under Armenian control, something denied by Yerevan.Azerbaijani forces also capture from rebels a strategic mountain, the Murovdag peak, in Karabakh.Azerbaijan declares martial law and a curfew in the capital Baku and several other cities. - Erdogan weighs in - On the 28, Turkey's Erdogan demands Armenia put an end to its "occupation" of Nagorny Karabakh and vows complete support for Baku.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he is "extremely concerned over the fresh resumption of hostilities".The authorities of Nagorny Karabakh say they have regained territory lost the day before, while Azerbaijan says it has made advances, using rockets, artillery and air power.On Monday evening Armenia's defence ministry says Azerbaijani forces launched a "massive offensive at the Karabakh frontline's southern and north-eastern sectors". - UN Security Council meets - By Tuesday, the third day of fighting, the total number of confirmed deaths has risen to 98 -- including 84 separatist fighters and 14 civilians. But each side claims to have killed hundreds of enemy troops.The UN Security Council schedules emergency talks Tuesday behind closed doors on the crisis, at the request of Germany and France, according to diplomats.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls for an end to fighting and a return to negotiations "as quickly as possible".kd/jmy/cdw

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Fire on Navy Cruiser Antietam Injures 13 in Philippine Sea

The fire is the fourth to break out on a Navy ship in recent months.

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McConnell shields Judge Amy Coney Barrett from questions about election outcome as she meets with senators

The Senate majority leader refused to answer if Ms Barrett should recuse herself from election-focused cases

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2021 Ford F-150 Preview

Competition is fierce in the full-sized pickup truck arena as Ford launches its all-new warrior, the redesigned 2021 F-150. It's clear that the popularity and profitability of this truck provides...

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High road at Chilling: India builds Himalayan bridges and highways to match China

Ligen Eliyas deftly turns the excavator's hydraulic arm to push a huge boulder into the Zanskar river below in a cloud of dust, clearing another bit of land for a strategic highway that India is hurriedly building near the Chinese border. The construction site near the hamlet of Chilling in the Ladakh region is around 250 km (150 miles) west of the area where Indian and Chinese troops are locked in the most serious confrontation in decades.

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Hathras gang rape: India victim's death sparks outrage

The 19-year-old woman died after fighting for her life in a hospital for two weeks.

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'Healthy' college student, 19, with 'so much life ahead' dies from COVID-19

Chad Dorrill, a second-year student at Appalachian State University, had recovered from flu-like symptoms before developing complications.

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Shepard Smith: Fox News’ Chris Wallace Won’t Tolerate Lies at Presidential Debate

Shepard Smith’s new CNBC show is called simply The News. And with that in mind, the former Fox News anchor is trying his best to play everything right down the middle.Ahead of his premiere this Wednesday, Smith appeared on his new network colleague Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, where he offered up a series of non-committal, both-sides takes on the biggest news events of the week.Smith got in one joke about Donald Trump writing off $70,000 in hairstyling expenses but otherwise said he didn’t expect the bombshell report on the president’s tax returns to change any voters’ minds. He similarly had little to say about the coming Supreme Court fight, telling Fallon, “Whether it’ll affect the election or not, it probably will, you just don’t know which way it’s going to play.”“Will conservatives be so happy about it that they come out and vote for more?” he asked. “Or will Democrats and people on the left say we can’t let this happen again and come out and vote in bigger numbers? I don’t think we’ll know until we know.”The anchor said definitively that there is no evidence of widespread fraud in vote-by-mail, but couldn’t bring himself to criticize Trump for refusing to agree to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose, only saying, “I’m not exactly sure what it is he is trying to accomplish.”Smith’s strongest convictions seemed to come when Fallon asked about Tuesday’s night debate, which will be moderated by his former Fox colleague Chris Wallace. Stephen Colbert Unloads on ‘Fake Billionaire’ Trump for Massive Tax Grift“I expect Chris Wallace to be prepared,” Smith said. “Nobody who has watched Chris Wallace thinks [anything] other than that he is a very tough, very thoroughly prepared journalist. And he has said repeatedly over the years, to me and publicly, ‘My job is to stay out of the way and be unnoticed as much as possible.’”“But he’s not one to let a falsehood or a misrepresentation or a ‘look over here’ kind of shiny object thing just slide by the way,” he continued. “He will hold them [accountable]. Both of them. He’s not a partisan guy. He’s searching for truth. He’s trying to speak truth to power. And trying to get information to the public. That’s what all journalists want to do.”It’s the same thing Smith is trying to do at CNBC after spending 23 long years at Fox News. “We’re not going to have pundits, we’re not going to have opinion,” he said. “We’ll bring you facts. The facts, the truth, the news.”Ex-Fox News Anchor Shepard Smith Vows to Fight Disinformation With New CNBC Show“Sometimes people live in a world of just lies,” he added. “And when that’s happening and it rises to the public discourse, we’ll point it out.” Drawing an implicit contrast with Fox, Smith said, “We want to be a source of truth and honesty and we’ll hold truth to power because that is our job.”“The Founding Fathers didn’t only put journalism in the Constitution for no reason,” he said. “They put it there because it is important and journalists have a responsibility to get it right and tell it straight and that’s what we’re going to do.”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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Job loss fears as furlough lifeline starts to wind down

Firms face higher furlough costs from Thursday, as Labour warns millions of jobs hang in the balance.

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Newspaper headlines: PM warns rule breakers as dad shops without mask

Boris Johnson's statement about a "critical moment" in the pandemic dominates most front pages.

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'I worked a five hour shift and got paid nothing'

A 19-year-old woman begins a campaign to ban unpaid work trials after working a shift for no pay.

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Job loss fears as furlough lifeline starts to wind down

Firms face higher furlough costs from Thursday, as Labour warns millions of jobs hang in the balance.

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Bank warned ministers Covid loans were fraud risk

The government was told in May its bounce back loans were at "very high risk of fraud" from organised crime.

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How controversial data firm Palantir hit $22bn

The rise of the US tech company has been shadowed by concerns about privacy and surveillance.

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'I worked a five hour shift and got paid nothing'

A 19-year-old woman begins a campaign to ban unpaid work trials after working a shift for no pay.

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Start with clients 'at the bottom of the fishtank'

Recruitment boss Richard Spencer-Percival says "start off at the bottom with your clients, then you can pick off the big game".

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Victorian Society risk list: Auf Wiedersehen, Pet pub added

The Victorian Society releases its annual list of 10 important buildings most at risk of being lost.

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Coronavirus doctor's diary: Trying out tech that may help make worship Covid-secure

Dr John Wright looks at the kit installed in a Bradford mosque in the hope of limiting the spread of Covid-19.

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Joyce Echaquan: Outcry in Canada over treatment of dying indigenous woman

A nurse is sacked after Joyce Echaquan filmed herself in hospital apparently being insulted by staff.

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How to watch the presidential debate live on Yahoo

Live on Yahoo: Here's how to watch the presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

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Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis: 'Bomb on donkey' used to ambush Borno governor

Militants from an Islamic State-linked group strapped the animal with explosives in Borno state.

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The Democrats’ Frivolous Three-Pronged Attack on Judge Barrett

Doing some commentary over the weekend about President Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, I was struck by not just the emptiness but the outright deceptiveness of the three main Democratic lines of attack against her. These are early days, so perhaps Barrett’s opposition will find something of substance that gains some traction. For now, the main salvos against her are frivolous:(1) President Trump has a litmus test for nominees, who must take predetermined positions that support his policy agenda; (2) Relatedly, Judge Barrett will “destroy” the Affordable Care Act, consideration of which comes up on the Supreme Court’s oral-argument docket the week after Election Day; and (3) Barrett, a devout Catholic, is on a crusade to overturn Roe v. Wade (1973).I will take these in order.*    *    *1\. Litmus TestThere is no evidence that President Trump has imposed a litmus test on judges whom he would nominate to the Supreme Court. That Democrats say there is a litmus test, tirelessly, on every media platform available to them, is not proof of anything other than a campaign to drive a fact-free political narrative into the public’s consciousness. Specifically, there is no evidence that Judge Barrett, in order to be nominated, had to agree to take the Trump administration’s position of staunch opposition to Obamacare and abortion. As I noted on the Corner earlier today, it is not unusual for Trump-appointed judges to rule against the administration.Nor is there any indication that Judge Barrett would be amenable to a litmus test. Consistent with her personal character, scholarship, and jurisprudence, as well as the example of her mentor, Justice Scalia, Barrett emphatically rejects the premise that it is the judge’s role to impose policy preferences — whether the judge’s or anyone else’s — on the nation. She has demonstrated that she believes the judge’s task is to decide issues that arise in litigation based on the applicable law as it was understood at the time of its adoption, guided by the law’s text and judicial precedent. If Barrett is confirmed, she will confine herself, as she has done on the Seventh Circuit, to resolving the cases that come before her in such a manner. That is a hard enough job to do faithfully without looking for dragons to slay.2\. Eradicating ObamacareThe notion that Judge Barrett, or for that matter the other Trump appointees to the Supreme Court, are on the warpath against the Affordable Care Act is laughable. The ACA issue is being contorted into a convenient political talking point in the stretch-run of a presidential campaign because President Trump, foolishly and reportedly against the advice of Attorney General Barr, has supported a weak legal challenge to the law. The case is California v. Texas, and the justices are scheduled to hear arguments about it on November 10.In my view, this is a rare case of conservative judicial activism, which itself is very unconservative. That is, Texas federal district judge Reed O’Connor, who is a fine judge, erred in this case by doing what conservatives properly fault liberal judges for doing: He imposed a policy preference, rather than deciding the case in accordance with the law and leaving policymaking to Congress.In 2017, with Republicans controlling the House and Senate and with President Trump’s support, Congress zeroed out the penalty for non-compliance with the Obamacare individual mandate. Notwithstanding scores of proposals to “repeal and replace” the ACA, Congress did not do so; lawmakers left the remainder of the complex legislative scheme in place.Even so, 18 attorneys general from red states, aping the destructive practice of their blue state counterparts, filed a lawsuit theorizing that Congress had implicitly done what it had actually declined to do, namely, repeal the ACA. Essentially, the red-state AGs (a) pointed out that the Supreme Court (thanks to the legerdemain of Chief Justice Roberts) had upheld the ACA as a tax in the 2012 case of National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius (NFIB); (b) asserted that this rationale for upholding the ACA is no longer valid because Congress’s 2017 zeroing out of the penalty (in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) means the mandate cannot be a tax, there being no tax without a penalty; and (c) therefore argued that, since the mandate was so central to the ACA, the entire ACA must fall. For standing purposes, the 18 states were joined by two individuals alleging concrete harm, and were supported by the Trump Justice Department (under then-attorney general Jeff Sessions).In late 2018, Judge O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, agreed with the Republican AGs that the mandate could no longer be construed as an exercise of Congress’s taxing power. Thus, he reasoned, since the tax construction was what saved the ACA from constitutional infirmity in NFIB, and since that construction is no longer justifiable after the 2017 legislation, the mandate is perforce unconstitutional. Moreover, because the mandate is inextricably tied to key components of Obamacare (including coverage of people with preexisting conditions), O’Connor deduced that it is not severable from the rest of the ACA, meaning the ACA is unconstitutional in toto.Subsequently, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed Judge O’Connor’s decision that the mandate is unconstitutional. But the appellate court did not uphold O’Connor’s inseverability finding, reasoning that the issue called for a more “granular” analysis. It therefore remanded the case to O’Connor for a more exacting inquiry. California — leading a coalition of 19 states plus the District of Columbia that support the ACA — pressed for an immediate Supreme Court review, arguing that the implications for public health care were too important to abide further doubt and delay. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.It takes more effort to provide that description of the litigation than to tackle the bottom line. To my mind, the only question about the Supreme Court’s resolution of California v. Texas is whether a single justice will vote to hold the whole of the ACA unconstitutional. I doubt it.Indeed, I am skeptical that a majority of the Court will even agree with Judge O’Connor and the Fifth Circuit that the mere zeroing out of a tax is the functional equivalent of repealing it, such that the mandate, technically, is no longer a tax. Regardless, though, the Court is not going to hold that the mandate is inseverable from the rest of Obamacare. You can take that to the bank.We can be confident that there are at least five, and probably six, solid votes for severability. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh emphatically endorsed the presumption in favor of severability just last term (here and here). Justice Alito agreed with them, as did the three liberal justices remaining on the Court after Justice Ginsburg’s death — Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan — who will surely vote to preserve as much of the ACA as possible. Furthermore, I suspect Justices Thomas and Gorsuch will side with this majority — and if they don’t, their position is apt to be even more deferential to Congress. They have each suggested that the Court get out of the business of analyzing severability and simply refuse to uphold any portions of a statute found to be invalid, leaving the rest up to lawmakers. In addition, they would be very stingy about who has standing to challenge statutes based on alleged harms.Contrary to the claim that there is a Trump litmus test that requires killing Obamacare, there is actually no reason to assume that the Trump appointees already on the Supreme Court (Gorsuch and Kavanaugh) are going to vote to invalidate the ACA. The best bet on what a Justice Barrett would do is that she would either (a) agree to follow the presumption in favor of severability that the Court has recently reaffirmed; or (b) question whether the plaintiffs challenging the ACA have standing and whether the Court should do any severability analysis relating to parts of the ACA that are not properly before the Court.Of course, I could be wrong. Judge Barrett is very smart, and she could have an analysis that none of us Court-watchers have thought of. Still, there is no basis to believe that she is on a mission to eradicate the ACA. This is an unfounded political talking point.Politically speaking, President Trump shot himself in the foot by ordering the Justice Department to support the red-state lawsuit. It has little or no chance of prevailing, and it makes him vulnerable to the false charge that he favors eliminating coverage for pre-existing conditions at a time when COVID-19 and high unemployment have intensified voter concerns about access to health insurance. Naturally, since one of the Democrats’ main campaign themes is that Trump is bent on eliminating Obamacare, they are telling people that getting Judge Barrett on the Court is part of that plan.To the contrary, Barrett does not believe it is the federal judiciary’s role to make health-care policy. There is scant reason to presume that she would invalidate the ACA, and every reason to suspect she’d point out that doing so is up to Congress, which could have repealed it but opted not to.3\. Overruling Roe v. WadeNo Supreme Court appointment by a Republican president would be complete without the Left’s obligatory hysteria about the purportedly imminent demise of Roe v. Wade, that indefensible exercise in judicial lawlessness whose atrocious consequences include the deaths of millions of unborn children. Once again, it’s a political narrative with little foothold in the real world.As I pointed out when then-judge Kavanaugh was nominated, the Roe argument is ill-founded. For over a quarter-century, we have been under the sway not of Roe but of Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). Casey gutted Roe’s reasoning, but left the judicially manufactured right to abortion intact. It also dramatically altered the arc of abortion litigation by acknowledging the interest of states in protecting public health and unborn life. Consequently, the legal fights over abortion now tend to center on regulation — i.e., does a regulation of abortion that a state enacts further the state’s legitimate interests, and does it so interfere with the availability of abortion that the woman’s right of access to the procedure is rendered illusory? The core “right” posited by Roe is not threatened by such challenges.If a state were to try to ban abortion, that would immediately prompt a federal lawsuit challenging the law. The federal district court, being bound to apply Roe regardless of the judge’s own moral or legal views on the subject, would instantly invalidate the state provision (contrary to liberal caricature, conservative judges do not refuse to apply binding precedent, regardless of their personal feelings about it). If there were an appeal, the relevant federal appellate court would uphold Roe, and the Supreme Court would almost certainly decline to review the case. This is not a sure thing, but I suspect it is close to sure, much as I personally wish it were not.On the other hand, in the more likely event that a state enacted a regulation that made abortion access more difficult, there would quickly be a federal lawsuit challenging the provision under Casey, not Roe. The Supreme Court decided such a case this past term, prioritizing access to abortion over state public-health regulation. Even if one assumed that a Justice Barrett would look sympathetically on state regulation of abortion, as Justice Scalia did, that would not eradicate the Roe abortion right.Finally, let’s explore what the Left never mentions. Let’s assume, for argument’s sake and against all indicia to the contrary, the unlikely event that the Supreme Court went out of its way to overturn Roe, after nearly half a century and despite its recent emphasis on the supposed centrality of stare decisis (the doctrine of adhering to precedent). Doing so would not criminalize, much less end, abortion in the United States.As Justice Scalia repeatedly explained, “The States may, if they wish, permit abortion on demand, but the Constitution does not require them to do so.” If Roe were overturned, the matter would be returned to the states, where it should have been in the first place — and would have been had the justices not presumptuously intervened in 1973, to the great detriment of the Court’s reputation as a non-political judicial institution and of the judicial-confirmation process.If Roe were overruled, some very left-leaning states, such as New York and California, would enact a regime of abortion-on-demand. Some very conservative states, such as Alabama and Mississippi, would enact significant limitations on abortion or perhaps even ban it outright. But access to abortion, while more limited in some places, would not cease to exist. Would the increased burden seem intolerable to pro-abortion activists? Of course it would. Just as for those of us on the other side, who believe that abortion is the taking of innocent human life, the continued availability of abortion would seem intolerable. That is how democracy in a federalist republic is supposed to work.*    *    *There is no Trump litmus test for Supreme Court appointees. The Court is not poised to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, with or without Judge Barrett. Roe survived 30 years of searing dissents by Justice Scalia; it will likely survive a Justice Amy Coney Barrett. And regrettably, abortion will survive no matter what happens.

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Lost wallet used as bait to lure alleged meth dealer into an arrest, Florida cops say

The suspect showed up to the meeting spot with methamphetamine and $3,000 on his person.

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Amnesty International to halt India operations

The human rights watchdog tells the BBC that the move comes due to reprisal from the government.

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Fox News host floats bonkers conspiracy theory that Joe Biden will use listening devices at debate

“The Trump team asked to inspect the ears of each debater for electronic devices or transmitters,” Bill Hemmer says

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Why Trump voters just don't care about his taxes

The revelation, per Sunday's New York Times report, that President Trump paid little to no federal income tax in recent years will redirect the conversation at Tuesday night's general election debate. But will it redirect any meaningful number of votes?I suspect not, not even among the president's most reluctant supporters.In broad strokes, there are two reasons to vote for Trump in 2020: liking who he is or liking what (you think) he'll do. This is an artificial separation of two rationales that often overlap, but let's call them the personality voter and the transactional voter.The personality voter likes how crude and cunning Trump is. She proudly brands herself "a deplorable" in reference to Hillary Clinton's infamous 2016 remark. She thinks it's funny when Trump riles his enemies, who, not coincidentally, are her enemies, too. This strain of Trump support tends to have a strong populist flavor, where supporting Trump gives "a collective middle finger" to political and cultural elites this voter despises and whom she believes despise her in turn.For the personality voter, Trump's ability to avoid paying income taxes is untroubling. It's far from the first violation of establishment norms she has vicariously enjoyed through her candidate. If anything, she agrees, as he said at a 2016 debate with Clinton, that successful tax avoidance "makes [him] smart." The populist hypocrisy Trump's critics see here won't register.Personality isn't necessarily relevant for the transactional voter, our second type. In some cases, Trump's personality helps him deliver on his side of the transaction. If the thing a voter wants from Trump is to own the libs, for example, his personality is an asset. But if the thing desired involves a policy or program, Trump's personality might be immaterial or actually detrimental. Many purely transactional voters would willingly — maybe far more willingly — vote for any candidate who would do what they want Trump to do. Their vote isn't for Trump qua Trump but for Trump qua the candidate they think is most likely to provide what they want."I voted for the Supreme Court. I didn't want to vote for Trump," an archetypal transactional Trump voter named Jim George told The Washington Post in 2017. "With Trump, you just hold your nose."A transactional Trump voter in 2020 is already holding his nose too firmly to catch a whiff of these tax returns. If he's decided everything Trump has said and done over the past four years does not tip the scales against whatever good he believes will come from re-electing the president, the tax story won't do it, either. It definitely won't turn him into a Joe Biden voter, and I'm skeptical that it could even keep him home, because Trump's personal life is irrelevant to his provision of whatever benefit(s) is anticipated.The transactional voter is already under contract. He's had ample time to inspect Trump, and he didn't find anything that made him want to back out of the deal.There is one scenario in which that arrangement might fall through, and that's if Trump's personal financial circumstances rendered him unable to hold up his end of the imagined bargain. But how would that happen? Or rather, how would the transactional voter become convinced it had happened were he satisfied with Trump's performance to date?The Times reported Trump has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt for which he is personally liable coming due over the next four years, possibly including around $100 million owed to the IRS should the agency decide a large tax rebate was improperly obtained. These are staggering numbers for us little people to contemplate, but if he holds onto the presidency, Trump is expected simply to obtain extensions on his loans and use his office however he can to mitigate his personal financial catastrophe. It would be an enormous debacle, very possibly leading to another impeachment or special counsel investigation and distracting the president from whatever his part of the transaction is supposed to be.Well, so what? Trump's first four years have had an enormous debacle every week, and an impeachment and special counsel investigation, too. Trump accomplished relatively little of his policy promises, certainly none of the headlines. The wall is not built; the swamp is not drained; not a single one of the "endless wars" is ended; the American steel industry did not come roaring back to life. Trump's most significant fulfilled promise — nominating conservative justices to the Supreme Court — was the one over which he arguably had the least influence: He could not know whether or when there would be a vacancy, and he was undoubtedly responsible for few, if any, of the names on his shortlist.If this level of distraction and failure is acceptable to the transactional voter, a second-term Trump fighting foreclosure and the IRS is too.More stories from theweek.com 'Sully' Sullenberger savages Trump's 'lethal lies and incompetence' in new Lincoln Project ad Disney will lay off 28,000 theme park employees after months of coronavirus furloughs Trump reportedly made tens of millions in the Great Recession by partnering with multilevel marketing companies

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'Utter devastation': Three dead as multiple wildfires in California explode in size

"This was pretty devastating," one official said. "Just literally hundreds and hundreds of homes devastated with nothing standing."

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Justice Ginsburg buried at Arlington in private ceremony

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was buried Tuesday in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, laid to rest beside her husband and near some of her former colleagues on the court. Washington last week honored the 87-year-old Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18, with two days where the public could view her casket at the top of the Supreme Court's steps and pay their respects. On Friday, the women's rights trailblazer and second woman to join the high court lay in state at the U.S. Capitol, the first woman to do so.

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Opinion: Trump's reality distortion machine is in overdrive for his debate with Biden

The Trump team, like the president himself, is working aggressively to make voters disbelieve what they see and hear from Joe Biden at the first debate.

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Universal Credit: Plea not to axe £20 a week ‘lifeline’

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation calls on the chancellor to extend an increase to Universal Credit.

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Egg freezing 10-year limit should be scrapped, says ethics body

UK ethics body says it would give women worried about declining fertility more time and options.

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Black History Month: Postboxes painted to honour black Britons

Sir Lenny Henry is among a variety of figures to feature on the postboxes in Black History Month.

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Great Barrier Reef: Uncovering the secrets of Australia's deep waters

Scientists explain how the biggest deep-sea study of two marine parks led to exciting discoveries.

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Female Koran reciters 'part of Islamic legacy'

How female Muslim Koran reciters are making their voices heard.

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Hydrogen-powered train makes UK maiden journey

The Hydroflex made a 25-mile round-trip in Warwickshire, reaching speeds of up to 50 mph.

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Coronavirus: What is the R number and why does it matter?

Experts keep discussing the value of R, but what is it and why does it matter?

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'The new Covid support for business is nuts'

Dejection over latest government help for business has left many small firms fearing for their futures.

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Russian cleaner sweeps to power in surprise village vote

'Flabbergasted' Marina Udgodskaya only entered the race as her boss needed someone else to stand.

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'The new Covid support for business is nuts'

Dejection over latest government help for business has left many small firms fearing for their futures.

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U.S. commerce chief sets October 5 target date to end census operations

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has set Oct. 5 as a target date to end data collection operations for the 2020 U.S. census, the U.S. Census Bureau said on Monday, weeks before the scheduled completion date of Oct. 31. President Donald Trump's administration, which said in August that it planned to shorten the time line by a month, was sued by municipalities and civil rights groups, which argued the "rushed" schedule would lead to inaccurate census results and "a massive undercount of the country's communities of color." "The Secretary of Commerce has announced a target date of October 5, 2020 to conclude 2020 Census self-response and field data collection operations," the Census Bureau wrote on Twitter on Monday.

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New aftermath footage of police raid that killed Breonna Taylor shows Louisville officers violating investigation policies

The footage shows officers involved in the raid on Taylor's apartment walking throughout the scene unescorted, a violation of their police department rules.

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Former paramilitary leader deported to Colombia

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Pelosi warns Democrats the election may be decided by the House — where the GOP holds an edge

If the Electoral College is tied, each state delegation gets a single vote. Republicans currently control 26

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Sir David Attenborough gets quizzed by kids after plea to world leaders to save nature

His hope for the future of the planet lies in the hands of children, so what do they want to ask him?

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Coronavirus: NHS faces pandemic 'triple whammy' this winter

Health bosses warn about rising Covid-19 cases, a major backlog in treatment and reduced capacity.

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Scientists create a microscopic robot that ‘walks’

The scientists behind a microscopic "walking" robot hope their tech could one day be used against cancer.

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Coronavirus: Early pub closing 'putting shop workers at risk'

Staff in stores selling alcohol after 10pm may be exposed to violence and infection, a union warns.

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The water-saving device wasting billions of litres every week

Low flush toilets often waste more water than they save due to poor engineering and confusing buttons.

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Newspaper headlines: 'Tory rebels' virus revolt' amid 'deadly chaos'

Many of Tuesday's papers lead on pressure on ministers to give MPs a say over Covid-19 restrictions.

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TikTok ban: How did TikTok stay online in the US?

Sophia Smith-Galer explains why President Trump shifted his position on banning new downloads of the app

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Dublin Lord Mayor: Hazel Chu and her Chinese heritage

The city's first Lord Mayor of Chinese heritage reveals the racism she and her family have faced.

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From tea fields to university in Sri Lanka

Theresa is one of the first women from her community of tea pickers in Sri Lanka to go to university.

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Scientists create a microscopic robot that ‘walks’

The scientists behind a microscopic "walking" robot hope their tech could one day be used against cancer.

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The cat who hitched a lift on a worldwide tour

Former Scottish rugby player Dean Nicholson met a lifelong friend as he cycled around the world.

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Ai Weiwei: 'Too late' to curb China's global influence

The Chinese artist and dissident says the West should have worried about China decades ago.

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Life: Doctor Foster spin-off explores 'loneliness in big cities'

BBC One drama Life follows residents of Manchester whose lives intertwine unexpectedly.

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'If you steal music, you aren't a real music fan'

The music industry is trying to clampdown on the latest form of music piracy known as stream-ripping.

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Young people ‘give up dream job hope’ in pandemic

The coronavirus crisis has eroded young people's confidence in the future, says the Prince's Trust.

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BTS to become multi-millionaires after label goes public

The South Korean K-pop group will become multi-millionaires after their label Big Hit goes public.

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Coronavirus: Public spending rise could be lasting

The government must choose between more austerity and permanently higher spending, a think tank warns.

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'I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots'

Many have struggled to get to grips with working from home, but would surveillance technology help?

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The woman who quit smoking and built a global hypnotherapy firm

Grace Smith used hypnosis to give up smoking, and it inspired her to take up the profession.

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NASA astronaut says voting is 'critical' to democracy so she plans to cast an absentee ballot from space

"It's really important for everybody to vote, and if we can do it from space, then I believe folks can do it from the ground too," Kate Rubins told AP.

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Coronavirus: Up to £10,000 fine for failure to self-isolate in England

New rules mean anyone in England who tests positive for coronavirus has a legal duty to self isolate.

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Covid lockdown: Two-thirds of Wales' population affected

Three more counties have rules imposed, with nearly two million people now affected.

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Coronavirus: 'Forced to work' as medics fighting Covid

Almost 200 health workers have died of Covid-19 in Venezuela since the pandemic began in March.

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Movers 'more likely to buy than first-time buyers'

The coronavirus crisis is changing the dynamic in the UK housing market, researchers suggest.

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Local food heroes: Tesco teams up with Olio

Supermarket chain Tesco has teamed up with the food-sharing app Olio in a bid to reduce food waste.

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Coronavirus tales from Tom's Bench on Clapham Common

Jim Grover's pictures of people he met on Clapham Common who talked about their altered lives.

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Covid: Dementia patient's wife describes 'torture' of lack of visits

A woman describes her pain at not being able to see her husband regularly at his care home.

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Orkney island of Westray claims to have UK's longest golf hole

The monster 738-yard hole on the Orkney island of Westray is one of the longest in the world.

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Voicemail from prison: How a mum and daughter rebuilt their relationship

A voicemail app makes it easier to speak to family members in prison, as one young woman found when her mum was jailed.

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The woman who quit smoking and built a hypnotherapy firm

Grace Smith used hypnosis to give up smoking, and it inspired her to take up the profession.

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Test and Trace: 'I spoke to one person in four months'

People who worked for England's NHS Test and Trace tell of technical problems, confusion and wasted resources.

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High Street hopefuls: The people opening new shops

The entrepreneurs opening High Street businesses during Covid when others have closed or gone digital.

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Meng Wanzhou: The PowerPoint that sparked an international row

The top Huawei executive's closely watched extradition case returns to court on Monday.

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Covid symptoms: What are they and how do I protect myself?

A new cough, fever and change in smell or taste are the key symptoms that mean you may have coronavirus.

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Covid: Seven ways the job market has changed for young people

The coronavirus pandemic has transformed the working lives of the under-25s.

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Strictly Come Dancing: How do you film during a pandemic?

The BBC has revealed how it will protect celebrities, dancers and crew working on the show.

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Donald Trump 'paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016' - New York Times

The New York Times says the president paid no income tax at all in 10 of the last 15 years.

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Movers 'more likely to buy than first-time buyers'

The coronavirus crisis is changing the dynamic in the UK housing market, researchers suggest.

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High Street hopefuls: The people opening new shops

The entrepreneurs opening High Street businesses during Covid when others have closed or gone digital.

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Local food heroes: Tesco teams up with Olio

Supermarket chain Tesco has teamed up with the food-sharing app Olio in a bid to reduce food waste.

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'One day everyone will use China's digital currency'

China plans a digital version of its currency, which some say could become a big global payment system.

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Cameron Peak Fire Becomes Third-Largest Wildfire in Colorado History

The Cameron Peak Fire in Larimer County, Colorado has become the third-largest wildfire in state history.

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Drivers Keep Running Over Protesters—and Getting Away With It

When a blue Jeep sped down an Aurora, Colorado, roadway in July, narrowly missing protesters, some witnesses swore the driver had put their lives at risk.“I saw him look straight at the crowd and hit the gas,” Rebecca Wolff, a protester who spoke to police about the incident, told the Denver Post. Another protester broke a leg jumping off the raised highway to avoid the driver.But in an hour-long press conference on Wednesday, District Attorney George Brauchler announced that he would not press charges against the driver unless presented with more evidence against him. Also Wednesday, in neighboring Denver, a different man drove a car into a crowd that was protesting Kentucky prosecutors declining to charge any officers for fatally shooting Black 26-year-old EMT Breonna Taylor in March.As of Thursday evening, no charges had been filed in the Denver incident, either.Since the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May, Americans have spent months in the streets protesting racism and police brutality. Those same streets have also become the site of a disturbing pattern of vehicle attacks, with drivers speeding toward and sometimes striking protesters. Complicating matters are calls by lawmakers to impose harsh penalties on those who block traffic—and even to grant immunity to drivers who hit protesters under certain circumstances.As The Daily Beast recently reported, such calls have been percolating in legislative chambers for years, their language sometimes curiously similar, like a right-wing fever dream playing on repeat. But drivers don’t always need those immunity laws. A pattern of dropped or languishing cases across the country has already seen drivers duck charges for speeding at—and sometimes ramming into—protesters.Meanwhile, the attacks keep coming.Ari Weil, a PhD student studying terrorism at the University of Chicago, has been monitoring car attacks since racial justice protests swept the country in late May. Between those first days of protests and Sept. 5, he’d recorded 104 incidents of people driving into protesters: 96 of them civilians and eight of them law enforcement. Of those civilian drivers, 39 had been charged, Weil found.In other words, well under half of people who drove vehicles at protesters this year had been charged, he estimated.Not all of those cases are necessarily malicious, Weil stressed. Five of the 96 civilian cases appear to have stemmed from someone taking a wrong turn, or encountering a protest by accident. In 48 of those cases, Weil found, the driver’s intent was not immediately apparent.But he estimated 43 of them to be overtly malicious acts based on the driver either having known extremist associations, yelling slurs at protesters, or deliberately swerving or turning to run people down.Other monitors of car attacks have offered slightly different figures. A protest-tracker by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a conflict-mapping non-profit, has logged 69 malicious ramming attacks from May 28 to Sept. 15. More recent incidents not captured in the Weil or ACLED dataset included collisions following Wednesday’s announcement of no charges over Breonna Taylor’s death. In addition to the Denver incident, a driver in Buffalo, New York, was filmed hitting protesters. Both cases were under investigation as of Thursday.The discrepancies in such tallies reflect the difficulty of determining whether a vehicle attack was attempted murder, an honest mistake, or something in-between. When Brauchler declined to press charges against the Aurora Jeep driver on Wednesday, he said the driver was trying to get away from protesters. He noted, correctly, that a protester has been charged with attempted murder for firing a gun at the Jeep, although, again, the details vary according to individual accounts. The protester fired the gun after the Jeep driver started moving through the crowd, accelerating toward a “wall of moms,” two of those women told CBS4, accusing the driver of nearly killing them.It’s the kind of murky situation that has plagued the George Floyd protests—by many accounts the largest American mass-mobilization in history.Car attacks “in prior years have been a lot more cut-and-dry,” Weil said, noting the past use of car attacks by jihadists and the far right—most notoriously the murder of Heather Heyer at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. During the more recent protests, however, “there are many more opportunities for motorist-protester interactions, some of which are motivated by racism and some of which are not,” he added.The threat of vehicular homicide often has protesters looking over their shoulders, according to Maggie Ellinger-Locke, a lawyer with the National Lawyers Guild, which monitors protests.“This is a really dangerous trend that appears to be on the rise, where we’re seeing far-right actors using vehicles as weapons, driving into protesters,” she said, noting that, although anecdotal, car attacks do appear to be on the rise. “Protesters are aware of this. Legal support organizations like the National Lawyers Guild are aware of this, and they’re very alarmed by it.”Some car attacks have resulted in arrests. A driver who plowed through a Bloomington, Indiana, protest, striking at least two people, was arrested two days after the incident and charged with criminal recklessness and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury. A self-proclaimed Ku Klux Klan member was convicted last month for an attack on Black Lives Matter protesters outside Richmond, Virginia. A Seattle man accused of driving onto a closed section of highway and striking two protesters (one fatally) has been arrested and pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and reckless driving. A Long Island man accused of hospitalizing two protesters with his car was arrested in July, as was an alleged Iowa City car attacker who, during his arrest, told police that protesters needed an “attitude adjustment.”But several high-profile cases have passed without charges. In Tampa, Florida, on June 21, the driver of a pickup truck was filmed cursing at protesters before driving over a median and onto the wrong side of the road to hit Jae Passmore, a prominent local activist. The driver has not been charged, although according to Passmore’s attorney Ben Crump, police know the driver’s identity.When Passmore held an event six days later, a second car ran into the group and drove away with an injured protester on the car’s hood, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Police stopped the driver, but did not arrest them. Instead, the protester was with four counts, including felony criminal mischief.A spokesperson for the State’s Attorney Office in the 13th Judicial Circuit on Thursday said the pickup incident was still under investigation. They added that the charges against the protester in the second incident were being dropped—but also that driver who struck them was off the hook.“There is no evidence that either person intended to cause harm, and therefore charges are not appropriate,” the spokesperson for prosecutors said in a statement. “Both people made decisions that escalated the situation, and basic courtesy by either person could have minimized or avoided this conflict.”A slew of these incidents remain in a bizarre state of investigative limbo. When a car full of pro-police demonstrators drove through a crowd of Black Lives Matter activists in Manhattan’s Times Square earlier this month, the news site Gothamist was quick to name the car’s likely driver, who has posted the vehicle on pro-police pages. (A passenger also spoke to the media under her own name.) Several witnesses have gone to police about the incident. Nearly a month later, the incident remains under investigation, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney told The Daily Beast.“Oftentimes there's been a big delay by prosecutors deciding whether to charge people,” Weil said.Prosecuting car attacks might become even more difficult under proposed legislation that would criminalize protesters blocking traffic or offer immunity to people who hit those protesters with cars. The most recent of those proposals, announced Monday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, would remove liability for people who strike or kill protesters with cars if the driver is “fleeing for safety from a mob.” It’s a claim made by many such drivers, including the neo-Nazi who killed Heyer in Charlottesville.Those proposals haven’t passed yet, and have been rejected in states like Kentucky and North Carolina. But Ellinger-Locke said even the suggestion of such laws—and the legitimacy they offer attackers—can heighten the risk of further harm.“I think they suggest to people engaging in that kind of dangerous, harmful, potentially murderous conduct, that it’s something law enforcement supports,” she said. “I think people are seeing the introduction of these bills and feeling emboldened to take action because of them. Not only does that chill the speech of demonstrators seeking to advance their message, but I think sends a clear message that that sort of conduct is okay.”Would-be attackers are sometimes aware of such proposals, Weil said, pointing to a Discord messaging group that planned 2017’s deadly Charlottesville rally. Some users, including the killer, James Fields Jr., spoke gleefully of the possibility of hitting anti-racist protesters, with another user writing, “I know NC law is on the books that driving over protesters blocking roadways isn’t an offense.” (The law was not, in fact, on the books, although that didn’t prevent Fields’ deadly attack.)Weil warned that language about hitting protesters is an active part of the far-right’s meme vocabulary.It’s also spread to conservative talk radio hosts.When a Denver woman was filmed in May driving through a crowd of protesters and making a U-turn, allegedly with the intent to hit another, the host of a morning show on Denver’s 710 KNUS radio station reportedly said on air that the driver “ran your monkey rear-end down… You’ve got that coming.”The apparent target of his comments, the man whom the driver allegedly made a U-turn to hit, was Black. On July 20, the driver was charged—nearly two months after the incident.Brauchler, the district attorney who on Wednesday declined to charge the driver of the Jeep in Aurora, hosts a different show on the same station.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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Louisville cop injured in Breonna Taylor shooting threatens lawsuits over being called 'murderer'

Jonathan Mattingly was the Louisville police officer who was injured during the Breonna Taylor shooting. He has hired a civil attorney.

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Federal judge blocks Texas’ elimination of straight-ticket voting

Democrats sued the state in March to overturn the Texas Legislature’s removal of straight-ticket voting.

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Virginia governor and wife test positive for Covid

Trump will hold a rally with 4,000 people in the state today, defying Northam's executive order on large gatherings.

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Proud Boys Portland rally: Fred Perry tells right-wing group to stop wearing its iconic T-shirts

Proud Boys says rally is ‘free speech event’

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North Macedonia: Roma protest against police brutality

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Iran FM demands protection for diplomatic missions in Iraq

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif on Saturday called for the protection of diplomatic installations in Iraq as he hosted his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Tehran.

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Trump falsely claimed an incident where an election worker improperly discarded 9 votes shows widespread 'voter fraud.' Here's what happened.

Luzerne County officials said a "temporary seasonal independent contractor" had "incorrectly discarded (the ballots) into the office trash."

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Coronavirus: Cardiff and Swansea get ready for lockdown

By Sunday evening, 1.5 million people - almost half of Wales' population - will be locked down.

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Brexit trade talks: Deal can and must be made, says CBI boss

The head of the Confederation of British Industry urges a "spirit of compromise" as trade talks resume.

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California wildfires: The inmates training to be firefighters

Brandon Smith is a former inmate firefighter and now helps former prisoners find jobs in the fire service.

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Six the musical: From a bedroom to Broadway (almost)

The musical Six was pulled just hours before its New York debut because of Covid-19.

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Coronavirus: ‘I used to film weddings but now I film funerals’

Ian Wilkinson has filmed more than 100 services since April.

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Female street artists: 'People assume I’m not the artist'

Rosie is passionate about brightening our cities but she says she's faced sexist views on the streets.

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Photography award winners show the fragility and beauty of mangrove forests

The Mangrove Photography Award winners show the beauty and fragility of the unique ecosystems.

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University entrance: The ‘taboo’ about who doesn’t go

How have white working-class boys been so left behind in getting university places?

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Amy Coney Barrett: Who is Trump's Supreme Court pick?

A favourite of social conservatives, Judge Barrett would swing the highest US court further right.

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University students: Tips and tricks to help you cope in a pandemic

From embracing awkward Zoom chats to persevering with annoying flatmates, experts give some advice.

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My Money: 'Hollie thinks she spent less than me'

Jay and Hollie from Liverpool take us through their week's spending.

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Idles: 'We'd love to do a zorb gig'

The Bristol punks talk "mental" live shows, class warfare and "violent-toned" new music.

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What is Donald Trump's Covid record?

The president is under scrutiny for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Italian family fosters Gambian migrant: 'The son we never had'

When Gambian orphan Muhammed Sanneh arrived in Sicily aged 16, his life took an unexpected turn.

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Civil service shake-up: Rewiring the government machine or blowing a fuse?

Can Dominic Cummings succeed in shaking up the way civil servants deliver on the PM's promises?

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Feds air FBI agent’s gripes about Flynn probe

The official public release of such candid assessments from inside a federal investigative team is extraordinarily rare.

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Pakistan PM condemns 'Islamophobic' Charlie Hebdo cartoons

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday condemned the fresh publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed by a French satirical weekly, urging UN efforts against what he called rising Islamophobia.

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Former congressman Ron Paul hospitalized, says he's OK

Former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul posted a picture of himself in a hospital Friday but said he was OK after video circulated online of him struggling to speak during an interview. The 85-year-old former Texas congressman, who ran for president three times, posted a picture on Facebook showing him smiling in a hospital gown and giving a thumbs-up. The post came after a video took off on social media showing Paul having trouble speaking during an appearance on his livestreamed show “Ron Paul Liberty Report.”

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Democrats, not Republicans, are hypocrites on filling SCOTUS seat

Democrats accuse Republicans of being hypocrites in the issue of the vacant seat on the Supreme Court, but it is Democrats are are full of hypocrisy.

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Claremont killings: Australian man guilty of two 1990s murders

Bradley Robert Edwards is convicted of murdering two women in the 1990s, but acquitted of killing a third.

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Mary Trump sues family for fraud: "Fraud was not just the family business — it was a way of life"

Trump claims that she was deluded into forfeiting her inheritance following the death of her grandfather and father

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Seoul: North Korea kills S. Korean official, burns his body

South Korea said Thursday that North Korean troops fatally shot a South Korean government official who may have attempted to defect and set his body on fire after finding him on a floating object near the countries' disputed sea boundary. According to Seoul, the man disappeared from a government ship that was checking on possible unauthorized fishing in an area south of the boundary on Monday, a day before he was found in North Korean waters. Later in the day, a North Korean navy boat came and opened fire at him, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said.

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