Big Time News Blog: 07/23/20

Thursday, July 23, 2020

People are burning documents at the Chinese Consulate in Houston, as Beijing says the US abruptly gave it 72 hours to shut it down

China said the US ordered its consulate closed in an "unprecedented escalation," with witnesses saying they saw papers being burned in the courtyard.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Bp2hSc

The Republican silence on what's happening in Portland is jarring

First Read is your briefing from "Meet the Press" and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3eSuRc7

Navy Vet Beaten by Federal Agents at Portland Protests in Viral Video: 'They Came Out to Fight'

The Navy veteran stands passively in Portland, Oregon, amid swirling tear gas. One of the militarized federal agents deployed by President Donald Trump swings a baton at him with full force. With both hands. Five times.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WL7xXN

Fauci says Biden and campaign 'know better' than to reach out to him

When asked if Biden has reached out to him, Fauci said, "No. I mean I think they know better. That I'm in a sensitive position."

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2CEVLXV

Navy veteran raises over $3M in bid to take Rep. Maxine Waters' seat in California

Republican congressional candidate and Navy veteran Joe E. Collins speaks out on why he's running against the longtime Democrat incumbent in California.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3jA2ran

Biden Says Trump Is America’s First ‘Racist’ President

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called President Trump the country’s first racist president during a virtual town hall Wednesday.“The way he deals with people based on the color of their skin, their national origin, where they’re from, is absolutely sickening,” Biden said at the virtual event organized by the Service Employees International Union when a healthcare worker brought up Trump’s habit of blaming Asians for the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has regularly referred to COVID-19 as the "China virus," the "Wuhan virus" and the "Kung Flu."“No sitting president has ever done this,” Biden said. “Never, never, never. No Republican president has done this. No Democratic president. We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed, they’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has.”Last year, when asked by the Washington Post if it was wrong to describe Trump as “a racist with a white supremacist policy agenda,” Biden said no, but did not want to go so far as to label Trump a racist, saying instead that the president was promoting "racist policies."The former vice president told reporters last week that he believes we are in a “battle for the soul of the country” as Americans have “had their blinders taken off” by the death of George Floyd. “I do think we’ve reached the point where one of those trite phrases everybody uses . . . it’s a real inflection point in American history and I don’t believe it’s unlike what [President Franklin] Roosevelt [faced],” he said.“I think we have an enormous opportunity to make some really systemic changes related to racism but institutional ways in which we handle things and I think the country is really ready.”Biden's own record on race relations has come into question since the launch of his presidential campaign, as many progressives criticize his opposition in the 1970s of busing meant to desegregate schools.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WOlFPX

Millions of Americans Are About to Lose Their Homes. Congress Must Help Them.

By BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/30E2vO0

Republican Stimulus Talks Stall Over Differences on Unemployment

By BY EMILY COCHRANE, JIM TANKERSLEY AND ALAN RAPPEPORT from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2EeWTCc

As Trump Calls for Schools to Fully Reopen, His Son’s School Says It Will Not

By BY PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/39oQCPZ

Gov. DeWine Urges Repeal of Bailout Bill in Bribery Case

By BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/39zCHGV

Disney delays release of ‘Mulan’ and pushes back ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Avatar’ films.

By BY BROOKS BARNES from NYT Business https://ift.tt/30NjZYm

A Rare Look Inside Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Draws Legal Threats

By BY CAITLIN DICKERSON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2BtW8nO

10 New Books We Recommend This Week

By Unknown Author from NYT Books https://ift.tt/3hsFp3u

This Column Is Not About Cancel Culture

By BY CHARLIE WARZEL from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/32JStNU

Republicans, Facing Political Headwinds, Begin Diverging From Trump

By BY CARL HULSE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/39ls76b

Trump trailing Biden in new Texas poll as president loses support among college-educated voters

Joe Biden has moved ahead of Donald Trump In the latest Quinnipiac Poll of voting intentions in Texas.The former vice president is preferred by 45 per cent of respondents, and the incumbent president by 44 per cent. In early June those numbers were 44 per cent to Trump and 43 per cent to Biden.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/39mrjxT

Bolivia police recover 420 dead in possible COVID-19 cases

A special police unit collected 420 bodies over the preceding five days in two Bolivian cities, and 80% to 90% of the deceased were thought to have succumbed to COVID-19, authorities said Tuesday. Col. Ivan Rojas, director of the special crime-fighting force, said his officers recovered the bodies from streets, vehicles and homes in the capital, La Paz, and in Bolivia's biggest city, Santa Cruz. Bolivia's Institute of Forensic Investigations said that nationally from April 1 through Sunday, its workers had recovered 3,016 bodies of people in possible COVID-19 cases.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2WLw8eS

Trump brags about cognitive test results again, recalls having to repeat 5 words in order

President Trump is continuing to brag about his performance on a cognitive test, taking great pleasure in recounting how he was able to successfully remember five words.Trump, who earlier this month declared he had "aced" a cognitive test at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and subsequently continued to claim it was not easy, described some of the "difficult" questions involved in it during a new interview with Fox News.As an example of the "much more difficult" questions on this cognitive test, Trump described having to repeat five words -- "person, woman, man, camera, TV" -- and then later on in the test remember the words to repeat again."They said nobody gets it in order, it's actually not that easy," Trump claimed. "But for me, it was easy. And that's not an easy question."Trump claimed he was even told it was "amazing" that he was able to repeat the five words in the correct order. At the end of this extended riff about the test, which is surely not the last time we'll be hearing about it from the president, Trump declared that this ability of his to remember five words proves that he is "cognitively there." More stories from theweek.com Trump says he's canceling Jacksonville portion of the Republican National Convention Veto-proof Senate majority passes defense bill requiring Confederate-named bases to be renamed Fox & Friends marvels at Trump repeating 'person, woman, man, camera, TV'

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2D4nHUU

U.S. diplomats head to China despite row over Houston consulate

A flight bound for Shanghai carrying U.S. diplomats has left the United States as Washington presses ahead with its plan to restaff its mission in China a day after an American order to close the Chinese consulate in Houston sharply escalated tensions. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the flight, carrying an unspecified number of U.S. diplomats, left Washington on Wednesday evening. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3fTrN0M

US flies Kuwait emir, 91, to Minnesota after surgery at home

Kuwait's 91-year-old ruling emir landed on Thursday in the United States after being flown across the world in a U.S. Air Force C-17 flying hospital, and just days after undergoing an unspecified surgery at home. Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah survived the 16-hour trip under the watch of U.S. medical professionals and Kuwaitis, with Kuwait's state-run news agency KUNA saying Kuwait's ambassador to the U.S. was at the airport for the plane's arrival. Kuwait has not released any information on what medical ailment Sheikh Sabah faces, other than to say he was hospitalized on Saturday and underwent a surgery on Sunday.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2EbTBQ8

Big Time News Blog