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Tucker: ‘Probably Illegal’ for Biden to Only Consider a Black Woman VP

Fox News star Tucker Carlson—currently facing outrage from network colleagues over his racist rhetoric—upped the ante on Monday night, claiming it was “probably illegal” for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to prioritize Black women in his running-mate search, while calling those candidates unqualified. Carlson, whose former head writer was recently outed as an outspoken racist, kicked off Monday night’s broadcast of his hit primetime show by singling out the women of color whom Biden is reportedly considering as the vice-presidential nominee.“We’ve taken a closer look at three potential candidates. All of them are said to be on Joe Biden’s shortlist for the job,” Carlson declared, referencing a previous inflammatory segment. “They are Stacey Abrams, Karen Bass, and Kamala Harris. Now, in a normal year, no mainstream candidate would consider any of these people. All of them would be disqualified without debate.”The far-right Fox host first described Rep. Bass (D-CA) as a “lunatic Fidel Castro acolyte” and an armed revolutionary, referring to her past praise of the Cuban dictator and work for a young leftist group during the 1970s. After calling Abrams, a former Georgia state representative and gubernatorial candidate, “delusional” and accusing her of writing “bad porn novels,” Carlson took aim at Sen. Harris (D-CA).“Kamala Harris, meanwhile, is so transparently transactional that even Democratic primary voters who have a strong stomach found her repulsive,” he exclaimed. “Pretty much no one who knows Kamala Harris likes her.”Claiming the three women did not represent a “blue ribbon group,” Carlson then grumbled over the Biden campaign’s apparent prioritization of a woman of color to fill out the ticket.“For what could very well be the most important job on Earth, Biden has decided to hire exclusively on the basis of qualities that are both immutable and completely irrelevant—race and gender,” Carlson huffed. “And that’s it. But wait a second, you ask, isn’t that insulting? Isn’t it wrong? Isn’t it probably illegal?”“Yes, it is all three of those things,” he continued. “But no one’s pushing back against it so Biden is doing it.”Carlson then tore into another Black woman whom Biden is reportedly considering, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice. Describing her remarks in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi terror attacks as “hateful” and “heinous,” the Fox host accused Rice of committing a “moral crime” by initially blaming the embassy attack on an anti-Islamic video.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.

Trump threatens legal action after Nevada passes bill to expand mail-in voting

Trump said he would challenge a Nevada bill that would automatically send mail-in ballots to voters ahead of November's election, though the measure has yet to be signed into law.

Iran has been covering up its coronavirus death toll, according to BBC investigation which says the true figure is almost 3 times higher

Both coronavirus deaths and cases are significantly higher than Iran is publicly reporting, according to government figures seen by the BBC.

Illinois officials call to abolish history classes in the state until an 'alternative' is set up to highlight underrepresented groups

Illinois Democratic State Representative LaShawn K. Ford is demanding the history of minority groups to be taught in state schools.

California governor says COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations trending down

The rates of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions were all trending downward in California in the latest counts, the governor said on Monday. Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said that despite that good news, the state's Central Valley agricultural region was still being hit hard by the coronavirus. "This virus is not going away," Newsom said at a daily coronavirus briefing.

Marines ID all 9 people killed in sea-tank sinking

The Marine Corps has identified all nine people killed when a Marine landing craft sank in the water off the Southern California coast.

Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US identified by the USDA

The mysterious seed packs from China that hundreds of Americans received in the mail have been identified, according to the US Department of Agriculture.Federal officials warned those who received the seeds not to plant them over fears that some may be invasive species and could destroy native plants and insects.

Kaepernick shirt was attack dogs' target at Navy Seal event

The US Navy Seals have launched an investigation after the footage from an event last year emerged.

Bill Gates: What Joe Biden should do on his first day in office to stop the coronavirus, if he is elected

"You really have to view the pandemic as a problem that you're willing to talk about," Bill Gates said.

James Clyburn: Trump doesn't plan to 'give up the office'

Rep. James Clyburn defended his recent comments saying President Trump "thinks that the American people will be duped by him, like the people of Germany was duped by Adolf Hitler."

Judge Esther Salas decries shooting that killed son, injured husband in emotional statement

In an emotional statement, federal judge says those on the bench need privacy protections. A man dressed as a FedEx worker opened fire at her home.

Parents in a school district in Georgia, are demanding in-person classes. But hundreds of employees have tested positive or been exposed to COVID-19, revealing the biggest blind spot in the fight to reopen schools

"The primary consideration should always be the safety, the health of the welfare of the children, as well as the teachers...," Anthony Fauci said.

White House-USAID liaison fired after series of anti-LGBTQ tweets

In a series of tweets, the political appointee said she had been attacked for her "Christian beliefs."

NASA Astronauts aboard SpaceX Capsule Land Safely in Gulf of Mexico

Two NASA astronauts aboard the SpaceX capsule completed a successful journey back from the International Space Station on Sunday, landing safely in the Gulf of Mexico to complete a historic two-month mission.The mission by NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft marked the first time astronauts used the Gulf as a landing site as well as the first time a private company, billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX, launched astronauts into orbit.“Today we really made history. We are entering a new era of human spaceflight," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstein said after the successful splashdown.SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell expressed hope that the "extraordinary mission" will be the start of a new era of frequent space travel, including eventually to Mars.“This is really just the beginning,” Shotwell said. “We are starting the journey of bringing people regularly to and from low Earth orbit, then onto the moon and then ultimately onto Mars.”The mission is also the first launch of American astronauts into space since 2011, and the first water landing by NASA astronauts since 1975. The two astronauts parachuted into the water at 15 miles per hour just before 3 p.m. EST on Sunday.The astronauts received a lighthearted message from mission control as their journey came to a close: "On behalf of the SpaceX and NASA teams, welcome back to planet Earth. Thank you for flying SpaceX."“You should take a moment to just cherish this day, especially given all the things that have happened this year,” Hurley told NASA and SpaceX after the successful landing.

Tropical Storm Isaias lashes Carolinas, killing at least one

The storm caused flooding and tornadoes resulting in at least one death in North Carolina.

2 Delta passengers refused to wear face masks, so the plane turned back to the gate and kicked them out

The airline said the passengers were "noncompliant with crew instructions." It currently requires everyone on board to wear masks at all times.

China seeks to increase influence in South China Sea by reclassifying international shipping lanes

China has quietly changed how it identifies a vast stretch of international waters in a shipping regulation, indicating it as a “coastal” region, rather than “offshore,” as authorities seek to exert even greater control over the South China Sea. The amended regulation, first drafted in the 1970s, went into effect on Saturday, and establishes a “navigation area” from China’s Hainan island in the south, all the way down to the disputed Paracel Islands, which sit east of Vietnam’s coastline. The revision, however small, allows Beijing yet another avenue to justify its claims in the region. “The move is pretty consistent with the broader, general patterns of China seeking ‘creeping jurisdiction’ using domestic laws to assert its claims and extend control in the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh,a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “With those domestic laws and regulations being implemented quietly without fanfare, the less likely it’ll attract undue external attention, so that over time a fait accompli is created - in other words, for Beijing to change facts on the ground.” The risk, in the long run, is that this area of ocean already flanked by Chinese military interests and installations, could turn a navigational zone to a “future security alert zone,” he said. The change comes as China has displayed increasing swagger in the South China Sea, where Beijing and a number of Southeast Asian countries all lay claim to the rocks, reefs and waters.

‘You can’t do that’: Trump refuses to discuss coronavirus death rate and says US beating rest of world on cases

Donald Trump has maintained that the US is beating the rest of the world on the coronavirus death rate, even as thousands of Americans are still dying every week.Mr Trump’s analysis, which he advanced during a discussion with Axios interviewer Jonathan Swan, is based on deaths as a proportion of cases but ignores deaths per capita — a measure that puts the US among the worst countries in the world.

Splash Mountain log flume ride sinks at Disney World's Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney World's Splash Mountain hit rough waters Sunday as Twitter users posted video of a submerged log flume ride they were in moments earlier.

A California couple were arrested on hate-crime charges after they yelled 'white power' during an episode of road rage, police say

They yelled "white power" and "only white lives matter" at a Black man and his girlfriend in a racist altercation on the road on July 22, police said.

Top Senate Democrat says COVID-19 relief talks 'moving in the right direction'

Negotiations between congressional Democrats and the White House on a new round of coronavirus relief have begun to move in the right direction, though the two sides remain far apart, the U.S. Senate's top Democrat said on Tuesday. After a week of almost daily negotiations, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said that he, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows have moved closer in several areas.

She got the virus. Then she was fired. Some sick workers left in cold by employers.

McDonald's and Marriott franchises are among hundreds of businesses that have illegally denied paid sick leave during the pandemic, records show.

Shoprite: Africa's biggest supermarket considers pulling out of Nigeria

Shoprite is the latest high-profile South African retailer to struggle in the Nigerian market.

An unassuming Las Vegas house with a massive bunker 26 feet underground and a faux outdoor space is on the market for $18 million — take a look inside

Inside, the house is covered in murals of landscapes, plus lighting that changes based on the time of day.

Virginia gov faces new hurdle in bid to remove Lee statue

A judge dismissed a legal challenge Monday that had been blocking Virginia officials from removing a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the state's capital city, but he immediately imposed another injunction against dismantling the figure. The new 90-day injunction bars Gov. Ralph Northam's administration from “removing, altering, or dismantling, in any way” the larger-than-life statue of Lee on a prominent Richmond avenue while claims in a lawsuit filed by local property owners are litigated. Now covered in graffiti, the Lee monument has become a focal point and gathering spot amid Richmond's sustained anti-racist protests since the police custody death in Minnesota of a Black man, George Floyd.

An impassioned obituary for a 79-year-old coronavirus victim blames Trump for his death, then calls out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and people who refused to wear masks

"Dave did everything he was supposed to do, but you did not," David W. Nagy's widow wrote in her husband's obituary.

Who is Karen Bass?

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., has been mentioned as a potential running mate for former VP Joe Biden, who has vowed to pick a woman as his vice president.

Police officers should not be charged with Breonna Taylor's death, criminal law experts say

Defense lawyers say LMPD officers had the right to defend themselves once Breonna Taylor's boyfriend shot at them

Two sisters who hadn't seen each other in more than 50 years were reunited by coronavirus

One long-lost sister was being treated for her COVID-19 infection at a rehab center while the other worked as a medical aide.

From Manhattan to Hiroshima: the race for the atom bomb

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki capped six years of top-secret work by scientists from Europe and North America. In 1939, Albert Einstein signs a letter warning US president Franklin D. Roosevelt of the destructive potential of nuclear fission, which was discovered by the German chemist Otto Hahn. Roosevelt creates the Advisory Body on Uranium.

See the cities with the largest Black-white homeownership gaps

The gap is larger now than it was before the civil rights movement. An NBC News analysis of census data shows the divide is widest in some metro areas.

Ningaloo Reef: Woman injured by humpback whale at Australian tourist spot

The woman is in a "serious but stable condition" after being hit by the whale during a group swim.

Panama proposes flying Haitian migrants home after clash

The government of Panama said Monday it has proposed giving some Haitian migrants flights back to their homeland after frustrations boiled over at the remote camps where they are stuck. The camps in Panama’s southern Darien province also house some Cuban and African migrants, but about 80% of the 2,000 migrants there are from Haiti. Public Safety Minister Juan Pino said Monday he offered improved medical services or repatriation flights to the migrants, who want to travel overland to the U.S. border but cannot do so because of coronavirus restrictions.

The Maryland county where Barron Trump attends school ordered private schools to stay closed until October, but the governor overrode the decision

In rejecting the Montgomery County order, Gov. Larry Hogan said it was "overly broad and inconsistent with the powers" of the county health officer.

Emeritus Pope Benedict, 93, 'extremely frail' after visiting dying brother

Former Pope Benedict XVI became seriously ill after visiting his sick brother in Germany in June and is "extremely frail", according to a report in the German Passauer Neue Presse newspaper on Monday. Benedict, 93, is suffering from erysipelas of the face, a virus that causes a rash and episodes of severe pain, the newspaper reported, citing the former pontiff's biographer, Peter Seewald. "According to Seewald, the Pope emeritus is now extremely frail," the report said. "His thinking and his memory are quick, but his voice is hardly audible at the moment." Mr Seewald reportedly visited Benedict in Rome on Saturday to present him with his biography. "At the meeting the emeritus Pope, despite his illness, was optimistic and declared that if his strength increased again he would possibly take up his pen again," the paper said. Benedict visited his sick brother, Georg, in Germany in June, marking his first trip out of Italy since his shock resignation in 2013. Georg Ratzinger died two weeks later, aged 96.

Court hears horrific details of how 'Doomsday Mom' Lori Vallow's children were discovered

Idaho Police have shared shocking details of unearthing the remains of ‘Doomsday Mom’ Lori Vallow Daybell’s two children, who had been missing for months prior to their discovery.Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo gave the chilling testimony in a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to hold her husband Chad Daybell for trial.

'Pioneer Woman' Ree Drummond talks stretchy 'pandemic pants,' shares Instant Pot recipe

"They’re black yoga pants ... and I have not worn anything, but black yoga pants since" mid-March says "The Pioneer Woman" host Ree Drummond.

Pelosi reportedly told House Democrats that Congress likely won't come to an agreement on another pandemic relief bill until next week

House Democrats and Senate Republicans have been at a standstill in ongoing negotiations over another coronavirus stimulus bill to support Americans.

Russia says suspected mercenaries detained by Belarus were going to Latin America

A Russian diplomat said on Monday a group of more than 30 suspected Russian mercenaries detained in Belarus last week were only passing through Minsk and were on their way to an unnamed Latin American state. Belarusian authorities have said they suspect the men entered their country to plot "acts of terrorism" and destabilise it before an Aug. 9 presidential election. The Russian state says it does not use mercenaries.

Dozens of colleges have abruptly closed — and efforts to protect students have failed

Schools at risk of shutting down are supposed to prepare transition plans. But students are often left scrambling to find new ways to finish their degrees.

Being a Chinese student in the US: ‘Neither the US nor China wants us’

Amid a global pandemic and diplomatic tensions, Chinese students in the US are feeling anxious.

Marine AAV Hit Rough Seas, Rapidly Took on Water Before Sinking

The Marines and sailor were assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines.

Kobach Would Do Anything for Trump. But He Won’t Do That

Kris Kobach needs Donald Trump—but his loyalty has limits. As the president has continued to escalate his attacks on mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, Kobach, the former Kansas Secretary of State and early ally of the president, has appeared on television and even written a column supporting Trump’s broad targeting of the practice as others try to make the measure more widespread during the health crisis. But in his home state of Kansas, where voting by mail will play a key role in deciding the contentious Republican Senate primary that Kobach currently finds himself in, the GOP lightning rod has avoided leveling similar attacks. Mostly because Kobach’s career is tightly intertwined with the state’s process. “The mail-in systems of most states are vulnerable to fraud,” Kobach said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “But when I was Secretary of State, I made Kansas's voting system the safest in the country with specific attention given to mail-in ballots.” That approach from Kobach, coming two years after he narrowly won a GOP primary contest for governor only to be soundly beaten by a Democrat in the general, reminded one of his critics in the state of the same tenor Trump is taking nationally. “I think he's doing the same thing Donald Trump is doing when Donald Trump tries to differentiate mail-in voting versus absentee voting, which are the exact same thing,” Democratic State Rep. Brett Parker said. “It’s a backdoor way of saying, ‘It’s ok if you do it if you’re voting for me,’ but still sort of reserving the right to cry foul if you don’t like the election outcome.”  Kobach is now trying to revive his political career by winning a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas. But his latest run has faced attacks from fellow Republicans, who are hoping that Congressman Roger Marshall (R-KS) will beat Kobach in Tuesday’s primary election. Awaiting the GOP nominee in the general election is likely to be Barbara Bollier, a state senator and former Republican who has shown strong fundraising as her party looks to take back control of the Senate.Trump’s condemnation of mail-in voting has covered a wide spectrum in the last few months. In April, amid Wisconsin’s pandemic primary, Trump leveled the charge that he thought “mail-in voting is horrible. It's corrupt.” The key irony at the time, which was called out by a reporter in the room, was that according to The Palm Beach Post, Trump asked for a mail-in ballot for the March Florida primary.  Since then, he’s threatened federal funding to Michigan over the state sending out absentee ballot applications and tweeted in June that “Because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history—unless this stupidity is ended.” Last week, he went as far as to tie “Universal Mail-In Voting” as a reason to consider delaying the election, a move he cannot legally make on his own. As recently as Monday, Trump continued to vent frustrations about mail-in voting. After taking a question from the Trump-friendly One America News Network during a press conference, he said, “Universal mail-in ballots is going to be a great embarrassment to our country,” after pointing a New York congressional primary race from June that still doesn't have a clear winner. Trump also claimed he had a right to make some sort of executive order on mail-in voting, but added, “We haven’t gotten there yet, but we’ll see what happens.” Trump: Vote-By-Mail Is Rigged. Trump’s Campaign? It’s ‘Easy And Secure.’In an April Breitbart column, Kobach wrote that “President Trump was absolutely right to highlight the dangers of mail-in voting,” but pointed to what he had done in Kansas as the exception to his criticism. Kobach reiterated his stance on Lou Dobbs Tonight, saying that “mandatory mail-in voting” if it came to pass nationwide “would just be horrific.” In a statement to The Daily Beast, Kobach pointed to a series of measures that include a photo ID photocopy or license number requirement on mail ballot requests and a signature verification standard to show that “the Kansas system is the safest in the country.” While Kobach spins his approach that way, his larger overhaul of the state’s elections system proved to be deeply controversial, sparking litigation and derision from Democrats for the tightened restrictions Kobach wanted voters to face. That push led to Kobach often failing in court as he tried to defend the strict laws he championed. Mail-in ballots will be especially crucial in the eventual results. The Kansas Secretary of State’s office tweeted over the weekend that “314,979 advance ballots mailed, 178,294 advance ballots returned,” in what the office’s figures showed was an overwhelming surge for the method from the same point in the 2016 and 2018 elections. “It’s not surprising that he’s trying to thread the needle here by nodding in the direction of Trump’s overall claims about fraud, claims which are not supported by the evidence, without discouraging Kansas voters from using the system to vote for him,” said Richard Hasen, an expert on election law at the University of California, Irvine. Kobach has been an avid Trump supporter since the president’s 2016 primary run and has embraced standing with the president as Trump’s voter fraud claim has grown more fierce. Following the 2016 election, with Trump able to claim victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the electoral college but not the popular vote, the incoming president leveled the bogus charge on Twitter that “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” Rarely one to shy away from a voting controversy, Kobach told reporters soon after that Trump was correct, according to The Kansas City Star, despite no evidence from the 2016 election to make that case. Kobach soon became the public face of Trump’s voter fraud commission, but the crusade became a public spectacle that was abandoned amid controversy, a lack of evidence and results. Kobach’s loyalty to Trump was rewarded during the 2018 election season with a last-minute endorsement from the president that observers in Kansas believe made the difference in the Republican’s 343 win over then Gov. Jeff Colyer. But Trump’s adoration, and a major rally in Topeka with Kobach ahead of the general election, weren’t enough to keep Kobach from losing to Democrat Laura Kelly by 5 points in the general election. Trump has yet to endorse in the Senate race—a rare example of the president choosing not to flex his muscle among the Republican base. But ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Patrick Miller, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, said Kobach’s tone on mail-in voting feels like a case of “the problem is with everyone else except for me.” “It’s definitely the kind of move that lets him back Trump but then say that he created the great exception,” Miller said. “Which makes sense. He doesn’t want to be in a position where he is seen as contradicting anything that Donald Trump says.” At the same time, however, Kobach also has to deal with his record as the state’s chief election official. “I think he’s doing this in a smart way,” Miller said. “I’m not sure he’s doing this in an intellectually honest way, particularly by impugning the integrity of mail voting in other states.” 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.

Burger King employee reportedly murdered after a woman complained about the drive-thru wait time

Retired Dallas police officer C'mone Wingo reacts to the increase in crime and violence in major U.S. cities.

Gold in secret vault is traced to Hugo Chávez's former nurse

It was 2014 and Venezuela's former treasurer Claudia Díaz was looking for a safe haven to store the unexplained wealth she had accumulated over the years. Then-president Hugo Chávez, who she once served as a nurse, had recently died and with the election of Nicolás Maduro, the nation's politics and relations with the U.S. were in tumult. In quick succession a shell company established in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines that she allegedly controlled purchased 250 gold bars valued at more than $9.5 million, according to court records from Liechtenstein obtained by The Associated Press.