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The Lincoln Project, which was created by a group of anti-Trump Republican political operatives last December, believes there is a logic to being a metaphorical fly buzzing around the president’s head. 

POSTED JULY 10, 2020 6:04 PM

NEW YORK - Ghislaine Maxwell argued for $5 million bail Friday, arguing that she had wrongly replaced Jeffrey Epstein in the public eye after the multimillionaire hanged himself last year. "Epstein died in federal custody, and the media focus quickly shifted to our client - wrongly trying to substitute her for Epstein - even though she'd had no contact with Epstein for more than a decade, had ...

POSTED JULY 10, 2020 4:25 PM

Five Guys confirmed the termination of the workers who turned their backs to the officers and that store is temporarily closed for customer service training.

POSTED JULY 11, 2020 10:41 AM

A newly discovered comet is streaking past Earth, providing a stunning nighttime show after buzzing the sun and expanding its tail. Comet Neowise — the brightest comet visible from the Northern Hemisphere in a quarter-century — swept within Mercury’s orbit a week ago. NASA's Neowise infrared space telescope discovered the comet in March.

POSTED JULY 10, 2020 10:38 AM

After many years demanding the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the state flag, Black Mississippians received their wish when a bill doing that was signed into law last week. Just as the state flag had served as a symbol of white supremacy for 126 years, beginning nearly 30 years after the Confederacy’s defeat, the lowering of the flag for the final time by a Black man symbolized Black Power. By the state’s own admission, the Mississippi state flag was rooted in white supremacy. Mississippi’s Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union clearly states that “our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery.” To enslave a race of people inherently means the perception of superiority by the oppressive race.   Both Men Were Innocent But They Were From MississippiWinston Churchill once stated that “the further backward you look, the further forward you can see.” There is also an African proverb that states, “as long as you speak my name I shall live forever.” To fully understand the role of Black Power in bringing down the flag, it is important to look back in history and recognize those individuals who dedicated most of their lives to fighting for social justice. Civil rights stalwarts like Medgar Wiley Evers, who literally laid down his life in the fight for social justice, and Fannie Lou Hamer, who worked tirelessly despite her admission of being “sick and tired of being sick and tired,” were instrumental in spurring activism and inspiring those who continued the fight for justice.Among those who continued that fight were Dr. Ollye Shirley, a former president of the Jackson Public School Board. As president, she helped stage one of the first successful efforts to remove a Confederate battle flag in the state when she led the Board in voting to eliminate the flag from a majority-white high school. Despite threats from white supremacists, she urged administrators to remove the flag peacefully, or she would “snatch it down” herself. Using an unconventional political strategy, community activists like NAACP members Mrs. Delores Orey and Mrs. Ineva May-Pittman pressured a local shopping mall to stop flying the state flag by repeatedly calling and disguising their voices, so it appeared numerous customers objected to it. State Senator Henry Kirksey served as one of the first advocates for the removal of what he called the “Confederate slave flag,” teaming up with voting rights attorneys to challenge vote dilutive mechanisms put in place by white legislators immediately following the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As a result of his efforts, today Mississippi has the largest number of Black elected officials in the nation—which proved to be the deciding factor in the removal of the flag. Dr. Aaron Henry, then president of the Mississippi branch of the NAACP, joined forces with members of the legislative black caucus and other local activists to file a lawsuit to remove the flag in 1993. This lawsuit led to a 2001 referendum to remove the flag, which voters rejected. Building on those efforts, the final push came from the Black power derived from the Black Lives Matter movement in response to uprisings following the death of George Floyd. These protests put pressure on corporations, universities, athletic entities and clergy to coerce Mississippians to remove the flag. Kylin Hill, a Black football player at Mississippi State University, may have made the biggest impact when he used his power as a star athlete to post a tweet threatening to leave the University if the flag was not removed. That led to last week’s vote. Black legislators now constitute 33 percent and 27 percent of the state’s House and Senate, respectively. But because of racial polarization—all of the state’s Black lawmakers are Democrats while Whites are overwhelmingly Republicans—Black legislators rarely achieve political success. Arguably, the most important vote to remove the flag occurred in the Senate. First, 11 Black senators and one white senator introduced a bill to remove the flag. Because of when the bill was introduced, a two-thirds vote was needed to suspend the rules and accept it. That happened because Blacks wielded political power by voting as a bloc. An alternative to the Black Power narrative is the storyline of white legislators crossing the partisan aisle, despite opposition by their constituents. For example,  Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hoseman had a change of heart and supported the removal of the flag. Yet when the bill to do that was introduced, he assigned it to the seldom-used state constitution committee rather than the rules committee where it had some support in what appeared to be an effort to derail the legislation he said he supported. For the last 17 years, including in March of this year, members of the Legislative Black Caucus have annually introduced bills to remove the flag. These bills were dead on arrival, as they never emerged out of the assigned committees. To be sure, the speaker of the House, Phillip Gunn, publicly denounced the state flag following the brutal killings of Black parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina, by a self-proclaimed white supremacist who was pictured with a Confederate battle flag. In his denouncement he pointed to his Christian faith. That commitment diminished during the following legislative session. The term Black Power was coined in Mississippi during the 1966 March Against Fear initiated by James Meredith. Just as that march ended at the state capitol, so did the life of the state flag.Your Confederacy Is Burning. It’s About Time.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.

POSTED JULY 11, 2020 4:59 AM

Visitors are required to wear masks, socially distance and have temperature checks on arrival.

POSTED JULY 12, 2020 6:14 AM

As the coronavirus crisis hits a new peak, Miami-Dade is preparing to scale back one of its most expensive and ambitious programs to protect residents from the virus and isolation: a $70 million delivery operation that dropped off more than 8 million meals to the homes of elderly residents.

POSTED JULY 10, 2020 7:26 PM

"Our delivery business is growing at rates that, frankly, I didn't think was possible, and we have doubled up on that," Khosrowshahi told NDTV.

POSTED JULY 10, 2020 5:28 PM

Severe thunderstorm activity has been plentiful across the Plains and Midwest so far this month, and after a brief reprieve from wet weather on Sunday, the region will face the threat for potentially damaging thunderstorms once again early week.In the wake of an active day in terms of severe thunderstorm reports across the Midwest on Saturday, an area of high pressure will briefly build into the region to end the weekend, shifting the severe threat away and promoting dry and settled weather for places like Chicago, Minneapolis and Des Moines, Iowa.Although there will not be a threat for severe weather across the Midwest on Sunday, there will be a few areas to watch for potentially drenching and locally severe thunderstorms. One of the areas to monitor closely will be along the Front Range of the southern Rockies and into the southern Plains. Large hail, damaging wind gusts and torrential downpours will be the main hazards across this zone Sunday afternoon and into the overnight hours. Although the hail and wind will pose a threat, any rain that falls across this zone will be beneficial as moderate-to-severe drought conditions are in place.Through the evening and into the overnight hours, it is possible that isolated storms congeal into a larger complex as they sink southeastward through the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.Another area to monitor during the day on Sunday will be across portions of the Ohio Valley, mid-South and southern Appalachians. While a majority of showers and thunderstorms are expected to remain below severe criteria, any storm that pops up in this zone will be able to produce prolific rainfall rates that could lead to flash flooding. These storms will also feature frequent lightning strikes and locally strong wind gusts.Heading into early week, attention will shift back towards the Midwest as yet another disturbance will track into the region, firing up feisty thunderstorms.Motorists traveling on interstates 29, 80, 90 and 94 across the Midwest will need to keep a close eye on the sky, especially during the afternoon hours, as conditions could rapidly deteriorate as thunderstorms develop. Fargo, North Dakota; Sioux Falls, South Dakota, North Platte, Nebraska, and areas in between could be in for another round of thunderstorm activity on Monday.Putting the risks for large hail and damaging wind aside, the persistent wet and stormy pattern is proving to be beneficial for farmers and their crops in the region.The month of July is considered to be the most important month for farmers across the Midwest as this is when crops like corn and soybeans experience the most rapid growth if conditions are conducive.Not only is the water beneficial to the crops, but lightning can aid in plant growth as well. The intense heat given off by a lightning strike can cause nitrogen and oxygen molecules to bond together, forming nitrogen oxides, or nitrates. These newly formed compounds can then get absorbed by water droplets and fall to the ground, providing beneficial nutrients for the plants below.Across the Midwest, there will likely be plenty of lightning flashes within the thunderstorms on Monday.A majority of the Plains and portions of the Midwest may not have much of a break in terms of the wet weather looking ahead to midweek, as a series of weak disturbances could spark daily thunderstorm activity.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

POSTED JULY 12, 2020 6:20 AM

The son of conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr., Christopher Buckley’s new novel “Make Russia Great Again” is a rollicking satire of Donald Trump’s White House.

POSTED JULY 10, 2020 4:41 PM