Indian men who see new policy as chance to marry Kashmiri women accused of chauvinism

Women's rights advocates have slammed a torrent of online posts by men from across India who expressed enthusiasm about marrying women from Kashmir after India's sudden removal of special rights from the disputed region made it more appealing to do so. "It’s deeply sexist," said Rituparna Chatterjee, an activist writing a book on the #MeToo movement in India. The latest comments of Kashmiri women, are only testimony to this fact," she said.



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UPDATE 2-China issues 'red alert' as super typhoon approaches mainland

SHANGHAI/TAIPEI, Aug 9 (Reuters) - China's weather bureau issued a red alert early on Friday as super typhoon Lekima approached Zhejiang province on the eastern coast, after forcing flight cancellations in Taiwan and shutting markets and businesses on the island. The National Meteorological Center (NMC) said the typhoon, the strongest since 2014, was expected to hit the mainland in early on Saturday and then turn north.



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After More Than 200 Years: US Army to Get Its Own National Museum

Right now, the US Army is the only military branch without its own national museum. In 2020, that's set to change. The future capstone of the Army is still under construction on a hill in Virginia.

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Police: Man with rifle, bulletproof vest arrested at Springfield, Missouri, Walmart store

Springfield, Missouri, police said the man had body armor and entered the Walmart store carrying a “tactical rifle” and another gun.

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Why Are So Many House Republicans Retiring?

On Monday, Representative Kenny Marchant became the twelfth House Republican (and the fourth GOP member from Texas) to announce that he will not seek reelection in 2020. What explains the House GOP exodus in general and the “Texodus” in particular?There are a few different factors. First, being in the minority simply isn’t as interesting or fun as being in the majority. Plenty of Republicans saw the writing on the wall in 2018, when 39 House GOP incumbents, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, declined to seek reelection. Some are learning that lesson now.“It would be unusual if Republicans weren’t experiencing a high number of retirements,” David Wasserman, who analyzes House races at the Cook Political Report, tells National Review. “That’s what happens when you lose the majority. That’s what happened in 2008, which is one reason Democrats had a banner year in House races twice in a row.” Wasserman notes that 2020 GOP retirements are “on pace to match or exceed 2008.”A second factor contributing to the GOP retirements is that the Trump presidency has turned safe Republican suburban districts into battlegrounds.For example, Kenny Marchant’s margin of victory in his suburban Dallas district was 25 points in 2012, 33 points in 2014, 17 points in 2016, and 3 points in 2018.Texas congressman Pete Olson, who has also announced his retirement, won his suburban Houston district by 32 points in 2012, 35 points in 2014, 19 points in 2016, and 5 points in 2018.Those are trend lines that no incumbent wants to see.“The suburbs are diversifying and moderating so rapidly that many of the districts Republicans drew back in 2011 are no longer reliable,” says Wasserman.In 2018, Democrats ousted two Texas Republicans in Houston and Dallas. “Historically, the cities have been bright blue and surrounded by bright red doughnuts of Republican suburban voters,” Texas senator Ted Cruz told the Washington Post last week. “What happened in 2018 is that those bright red doughnuts went purple — not blue, but purple. We’ve got to do a more effective job of carrying the message to the suburbs.”“The president’s reelection campaign needs to take Texas seriously,” said Cruz, who won reelection by just 2.6 points in 2018. Cruz added that it is “by no means a given” that Trump will carry the state in 2020.The GOP’s suburban problem isn’t limited to Texas. Retiring Georgia congressman Rob Wooddall won reelection in his district northeast of Atlanta by 21 to 31 percentage points from 2012 to 2016, but he won reelection by just two-tenths of a percentage point in 2018. When a blue wave swept over the House GOP in 2018, Republicans lost districts that include suburban areas in states as red as Kansas, Utah, and South Carolina.A third factor contributing to GOP retirements, says Wasserman, is the “disconnect between President Trump’s worldview” and that of some in the Republican caucus. This is the best explanation for the retirement of Texas Republican Will Hurd, a former CIA operative and the lone black Republican in the House, who won narrow victories in 2014, 2016, and 2018. Many thought that Hurd, at age 41, could be the future of the party.But Hurd said in a statement last week that he has decided to “pursue opportunities outside the halls of Congress to solve problems at the nexus between technology and national security,” without saying what exactly he plans to do. Hurd has disagreed with President Trump on the border wall, free trade, and foreign policy. And he was one of just four House Republicans who voted in July to condemn Trump’s tweets telling progressive Democratic congresswomen to “go back” to the countries “from which they came,” fix them, and then “come back and show us how it is done.” (The four lawmakers he was addressing are minorities, and three are natural-born citizens.)Martha Roby, an articulate and promising 43-year-old member from Alabama, also announced her retirement this summer. In 2016, Roby said she couldn’t vote for Trump after the Access Hollywood tape became public, but she supported the Trump presidency enough to win the president’s endorsement in 2018.Another possible factor nudging members toward retirement, a factor that no one would ever likely admit to, is that members of Congress haven’t gotten a pay raise in a decade. On one hand, a member’s $174,000 salary is three times the national median salary. On the other hand, members of Congress are expected to maintain two residences while making a salary well below what they could likely make outside of government. At this populist moment, it’s not clear when the next raise for members of Congress is coming: A deal to raise congressional salaries by 2.6 percent collapsed in June.Some of the retirees are stepping down for reasons that have little to do with the weakness of the House GOP. A couple are seeking higher office, such as Alabama’s Bradley Byrne, who is running for the Senate, and Montana’s Greg Gianforte, who is running for governor. And a couple of retirees, Rob Bishop of Utah and Mike Conaway of Texas, come from safe districts but are losing their status as committee ranking members owing to the GOP’s self-imposed term-limits.But any way you look at it, twelve retirements so far is bad news for the House GOP. We’re still only seven months into the new Congress, and several more representatives will probably announce their retirement in the coming months. For all the talk about voters’ anger at Washington, incumbents are still much more likely to win their elections than are candidates running for open seats. This summer, the GOP’s slim odds of winning back the 19 seats necessary to take back the House have become even slimmer.

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89-year-old Florida woman battles and kills 6-foot snake after it eats visiting birds

An 89-year old Tallahassee woman killed a six-foot snake in her backyard yard after it ate most of her birds in three weeks.

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China issues 'red alert' as super typhoon approaches mainland

SHANGHAI/TAIPEI (Reuters) - China's weather bureau issued a red alert early on Friday as super typhoon Lekima approached Zhejiang province on the eastern coast, after forcing flight cancellations in Taiwan and shutting markets and businesses on the island. The National Meteorological Center (NMC) said the typhoon, the strongest since 2014, was expected to hit the mainland in early on Saturday and then turn north.

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200 hit by New Zealand massacre take part in hajj pilgrimage

Two hundred survivors and relatives of victims of March's massacres at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, are undertaking the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to "pray for the martyrs". "I want the world to know who Atta Elayyan was," said 27-year-old Farah Talal, dressed in a green djellaba robe and an elegant white scarf during her visit to Islam's holiest city. "He was a wonderful person, generous, I want to pay tribute to him," murmured the young woman of Jordanian-origin who, along with 200 others affected by the massacre, was invited to the hajj by Saudi's King Salman.

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Hundreds of poor migrant workers flee Kashmir under lockdown

Hit by a complete security lockdown in Kashmir, hundreds of poor migrant workers have begun fleeing the Himalayan region to return to their far-away villages in northern and eastern India. Authorities in Hindu-majority India clamped a complete shutdown on Kashmir as they scrapped the Muslim-majority state's special status, including exclusive hereditary rights and a separate constitution, and divided it into two territories. The Kashmir region is divided between India and Pakistan and is claimed by both.

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Here are the candidates who have qualified for the September Democratic debate in Houston - so far

At present, only eight candidates have reached the required amount of support and funding to qualify for the next debate in Houston, Texas.

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'I Was Scared to Death': Former Neighbor of Escaped Tennessee Inmate Speaks Out

Curtis Ray Watson's lengthy criminal history in Tennessee reveals run-ins with the law that began with a conviction for driving under the influence in 1999.

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Illinois Cop Shot Unarmed Black 12-Year-old in Bed During Botched Raid: Lawsuit

HandoutAn Illinois mother filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing police officers of “terrorizing” innocent children after her unarmed, 12-year-old son was shot in his bed with an assault rifle during a pre-dawn raid on their home. The lawsuit alleges that nearly two dozen Country Club Hills and Richton Park SWAT officers entered Crystal Worship’s home in May with exploding flash-grenades and automatic rifles to execute a search warrant intended for her boyfriend. During the raid, her black son, Amir, was allegedly shot by a white officer as he sat on his bed with his hands in the air and suffered a shattered kneecap.“There is a silent epidemic of trauma being perpetrated upon the children and families of color by Chicago and South Suburban police barreling into the wrong homes, handcuffing innocent adults, holding guns on children, handcuffing children, trashing their homes, refusing to show warrants, and screaming dehumanizing commands,” Al Hofeld Jr., the family’s attorney, said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.“Now, children are being shot in their beds,” he added. ‘You’re Gonna Kill Me’: Body-Cam Footage Shows Cops Mocking Dallas Man as He DiesThe lawsuit, which was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County on Thursday, names the city of County Club Hills, the village of Richton Park, and several police officers as defendants. The family is seeking $50,000 in damages for alleged negligence, willful and wanton conduct, assault, battery, and false imprisonment.On May 26, 2019, officers dressed in “army fatigues with black cloth covering their faces and wearing goggles” entered the family’s home at about 5 a.m. while Crystal Worship and her three sons—Amir, 13-year-old Eric, and 18-year-old Robert—were asleep, according to the lawsuit. The court documents allege the officers “battered open the two entry doors and set off between two and five flash-bang grenades,” while executing a search warrant for Crystal’s boyfriend.The boyfriend, Mitchell Thurnam, was arrested and charged with drug possession in a case that was dropped weeks later.Once inside the house, the lawsuit alleges, SWAT officers went to the children’s bedroom and shouted “commands at them” while holding their assault rifles. “The children were terrified they were about to be killed,” the lawsuit states. One officer allegedly continued pointing his firearm directly at Amir, who was shirtless and sitting at the edge of his bed with his hands in the air, even after the room had been cleared. After asking his age, the officer “pulled him up and off of his bed and told him to sit on his brother’s bed... and to put a shirt one,” the lawsuit alleges. Miami Cop Charged With Misconduct After Violent Arrest of Black WomanThirty seconds later, another officer entered the room and allegedly told Amir to “put his shoes on” but then snatched the child’s shoes away when he tried to follow his orders. The officer then “asked which pair of shoes in the room were his” and examined one of the shoes with a flashlight, the lawsuit says.While handing the shoe back to Amir and trying to put his flashlight away in his vest, “the officer quickly moved his right hand back to the handle and trigger of his rifle, grabbing it and firing it,” the lawsuit states. After the officer shot Amir in the knee, shattering his kneecap, he allegedly “covered his badge with black tape and covered his body camera.” “Mom, they shot me,” Amir started to yell, according to the documents. “I can’t move it.”As Amir started screaming, Crystal Worship asked officers in the next room if they were “shooting” the children, the lawsuit says. Officers allegedly refused to tell her what happened and “lied to her and told her they shot someone walking past outside.”The lawsuit also alleges Eric heard his brother being shot while another officer pointed an assault rifle at him. He was handcuffed and placed in a squad car alone for an hour before officers held him at the station for five hours, according to the documents.Amir Worship was transported to the hospital after the bullet “entered his joint and partially exited the back of his leg on the right side”—an injury that required surgery, the lawsuit states. Texas Police Apologize for Viral Photo of Mounted Officers Leading Black Man by RopeThe boy was initially hospitalized for four days after the surgery, and later returned after he “developed complications from infection” which included a high fever, blurred vision, and blacking out twice, the family says.“According to an orthopedic doctor, Amir will not be able to play any sports again, will have difficulty in physical education, will walk with a limp, and will have difficulty walking and running for the rest of his life,” the lawsuit states. A spokesperson for the Country Club Hills Police Department declined to comment on Thursday’s lawsuit, citing an ongoing investigation with the Illinois State Police. Richton Park Police did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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ICE released 300 of the 680 detained in raids at Mississippi food processing plants

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 680 people at food processing plants in small towns near Jackson, Mississippi, on Wednesday.

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We Asked Trump to Recognize That Words Matter. His Refusal to Do So Has Led to More Tragedy

Members of the Tree of Life community in Pittsburgh demanded that Trump recognize that words matter and denounce white nationalism, but he didn't. Now people have died in El Paso and other cities across the country.

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Man fights off grizzly bear by stabbing it in neck with pocket knife as it savaged him

A man savaged by a grizzly bear while mountain biking fought off the animal by stabbing it with a 2in pocket knife – and then cycled four miles to get help.Colin Dowler was out in the backwoods of British Columbia exploring possible hiking routes when he turned a corner and encountered the huge grizzly at a distance of about 30m, the BBC reported.He had hoped the bear would avoid confrontation and pass him by, or retreat into trees near the logging trail on Mount Doogie Dowler, named for his grandfather.But the animal approached him with “methodical, heavy swats” of its paws, Mr Dowler told the broadcaster. He tried talking it down, he said, telling it: ”I know this is your territory, I’m just passing through, we don’t have to do this.”When the grizzly did not retreat the 45-year-old tried throwing his bike at it, to no avail. Then it lunged, sinking its teeth into his stomach.Mr Dowler told Canadian broadcaster CBC: “It grabbed me by the stomach and kind of pushed me down and dragged me toward the ditch maybe 50 feet. I tried eye gouging it away and it didn’t really work.”The bear also bit into his limbs during the 29 July attack, the reports said.He added: “It sounded like it was grating my bones up. “Somehow, I don’t know how I did it. I used both hands to pull underneath the bear to get to that knife, and I grabbed the knife ... and stabbed the bear in his neck.“It let go of me immediately. It was bleeding quite badly, I wasn’t really sure if it was dying faster than I was.”Once free of the bear’s jaws Mr Dowler reportedly made a tourniquet from his shirt and rode some 4.3 miles before finding help, in the form of five logging camp workers who gave first aid and called for an air ambulance.Mr Dowler, a father of two, is now recovering at Vancouver General Hospital.The bear was reportedly tracked down and killed by wildlife officers.

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Donald Trump names Joseph Maguire acting spy chief after succession turmoil

Donald Trump has named Joseph Maguire, a retired Navy officer, as his acting Director of National Intelligence following a series shakeups for the job.

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Virginia transgender bathroom case: Judge favors ex-student

A federal judge in Virginia ruled Friday that a school board's transgender bathroom ban discriminated against a former student, Gavin Grimm, the latest in a string of decisions nationwide that favor transgender students who faced similar policies. The order issued by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen in Norfolk is a major victory for the American Civil Liberties Union and for Grimm.

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Nineteen bodies, some dismembered, found in southwestern Mexico

Mexican authorities said Thursday that they found 19 bodies, some dismembered, in the southwestern state of Michoacan, as the federal government seeks to combat rising violence with a new militarized police. The victims, which included three women, were found at three different locations in the drug-cartel hotbed of Uruapan, state prosecutor Adrian Lopez told reporters Thursday morning. Battles between rival criminal groups have made Michoacan one of Mexico's bloodiest states.

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Black women deserve better from Kamala Harris. Don't take our vote for granted

Instead of championing real structural change, Harris prefers shallow virtue-signalling. We’re waiting for more ‘A Kamala Harris presidency would be ineffectual for the demographic that will likely comprise much of her base: black women.’ Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersWhen Senator Kamala Harris announced a student loan cancellation plan over the weekend, it was roundly, and justifiably, met with disdain. Convoluted and bloated with caveats, the plan would provide $20,000 of student loan debt relief … for Pell Grant recipients…who also operate a business in a disadvantaged community … for at least three years (sarcastic ellipses mine).After pushback against her rather niche proposal, Harris clarified that the plan is part of a larger package of entrepreneurship policies, not her education policies.But a review of both the education and entrepreneurship packages on her campaign website suggests a bigger problem. A Kamala Harris presidency would be ineffectual for the demographic that will probably comprise much of her base: black women.Black women have more student loan debt than any other graduates in the country. Of college graduates repaying student debt, black women experience more financial difficulty than anyone else in the country. Black women are paid the least of any group of people of both high school graduates and college graduates with a bachelor’s degree.The causes for these inequalities vary, but research points to wealth disparities generally, differences in family dynamics between young black and white people, and hiring discrimination. According to a report by Demos, 41% of white college-educated families, compared with 13% of black families, get an inheritance. The report adds that “black people are more likely to financially help older family members, preventing wealth accumulation and leaving them more financially vulnerable”. Further, “employers persist in discriminating against black workers in hiring, in assigning more precarious employment prospects to black workers than to white workers, and in requiring more education of black workers for the same job as white workers”.> A Kamala Harris presidency would be ineffectual for the demographic that will likely comprise much of her base: black womenYoung black people, and black women in particular, are keenly aware of the latter. Without the same social networks to rely on as non-black workers in the event of lay-offs and to enter fields where we have been customarily excluded, black women heed the lessons that education is the great equalizer. We are at an intersection of racial and gendered expectations to work two times harder, not just because we are black, but also because we are women who tend to be underestimated in the labor force. This creates more pressure to “professionalize” ourselves, and it’s not yet proving to pay off.These vast structural hurdles in higher education and employment opportunity cannot be overcome with the sort of piecemeal economic reform Kamala Harris has recommended. By her campaign’s estimate, as reported by the Cut, the limited student loan cancellation program will affect .04% of the 45 million Americans with student loan debt.Instead of championing substantial debt relief, which would significantly close the black-white wealth gap, Harris seems to prefer shallow virtue-signaling to black voters. When she’s not suggesting these modest proposals, she’s taking the language of candidates to her left while muddying the water of what her policies will actually do. Instead of proposing free college tuition, she refers to “debt-free” college, without specifying what that means. While saying she supports reparations, she clarifies that they won’t be particular to black Americans. While taking the debate stage to suggest that she supports a single-payer Medicare for All, she later advocates a different plan that won’t be single-payer.Even worse, her assertion that she has no intention to “restructure society”, even though scholars argue a government-backed redistribution of wealth is necessary for racial equality, makes Harris sound more like Joe Biden than Shirley Chisholm, after whom she has fashioned herself. While she may be able to make distinctions between herself and Joe Biden on civil rights, her brand of economic moderation is in some ways more dangerous.Appealing to black women superficially, without the substance to back it, gives her enough legitimacy to win black women over while offering little in return. This leaves progressive black women in the awkward position of not critiquing her so that she gets the nomination, which becomes not critiquing her so she wins the general election, which turns into leaving her presidency unchallenged so she can govern. While protecting the career of a single black politician, black women as a whole are likely to face unabated, growing inequality.We can’t afford the four years of piecemeal moderation that Kamala Harris offers, and we have the debt to prove it. * Malaika Jabali is a public policy attorney, writer and activist whose writing has appeared in Essence, Jacobin, the Intercept, Glamour and elsewhere

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Cummings: Hateful, incendiary comments must stop

Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings says government officials must stop making "hateful, incendiary comments" that only to serve to divide and distract the nation from its real problems, including mass shootings and white supremacy.

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Man in anthem attack convinced Trump ordered it, lawyer says

A Montana man charged with assaulting a 13-year-old boy who refused to remove his hat during the national anthem believed he was doing what President Donald Trump wanted him to do, his attorney said. Attorney Lance Jasper told the Missoulian he will seek a mental health evaluation for Curt Brockway, a U.S. Army veteran who became caught up in the heightened animosity and rhetoric gripping the nation, and convinced himself that he was following the president's orders. Brockway suffered a traumatic brain injury in a vehicle crash in 2000 that has affected his decision making, and Jasper said he plans to raise that in his client's defense.

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