Trump floats election delay, congressional Republicans reject idea - Reuters

Trump floats election delay, congressional Republicans reject idea  ReutersView Full Coverage on Google News

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Jim Cramer reacts to Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet earnings - CNBC

Jim Cramer reacts to Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet earnings  CNBC

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How to Fight Against Big Tech’s Power - The New York Times

1. How to Fight Against Big Tech’s Power  The New York Times
2. US Lawmakers Attack Tech CEOs  VOA News
3. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Apple announces 4 to 1 stock split as shares cross $400 following record Q3 earnings - 9to5Mac

1. Apple announces 4 to 1 stock split as shares cross $400 following record Q3 earnings  9to5Mac
2. Apple suggests new iPhones won't arrive in September  CNBC
3. Apple to split stock following blockbuster earnings  Fox Business
4. Apple confirms new iPhones won’t arrive in September  The Verge
5. Apple posts blowout third quarter, with sales up 11% despite coronavirus disruptions  CNBC
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Google Camera 7.5 corroborates Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5, hints at Audio Zoom, expanded Social Share, and more - XDA Developers

1. Google Camera 7.5 corroborates Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5, hints at Audio Zoom, expanded Social Share, and more  XDA Developers
2. Google teases August 3rd launch for long-awaited Pixel 4A  The Verge
3. Google teases Pixel 4a unveil on August 3rd with ‘lorem ipsum’  9to5Google
4. Google takes 'leaks' into its own hands with Pixel phone tease  Engadget
5. Google Store teaser hints that the Pixel 4a is finally arriving on August 3  Pocketnow
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Sony Reveals New TVs That Are "Ready For PlayStation 5" - GameSpot

1. Sony Reveals New TVs That Are "Ready For PlayStation 5"  GameSpot
2. Sony just revealed the first 'Ready for PlayStation 5' TVs  BGR
3. The Trouble With Sony’s ‘Ready For PlayStation 5’ Campaign  Forbes
4. Will PS Now Be on PS5?  Push Square
5. Sony has started branding TVs that support 8K and 120fps as ‘PS5 ready’  Video Games Chronicle
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Billie Eilish Drops ‘My Future’ in Time for Finneas’ Birthday - Rolling Stone

1. Billie Eilish Drops ‘My Future’ in Time for Finneas’ Birthday  Rolling Stone
2. Billie Eilish Shares New Song “my future”: Listen  Pitchfork
3. Billie Eilish Releases Animated Studio Ghibli Style Video for “my future”  mxdwn.com
4. Billie Eilish learns how to be alone in her new personal growth anthem 'My Future'  USA TODAY
5. Billie Eilish Explores Growth & Learning to Be Alone in Animated 'My Future' Video: Watch  Billboard
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Covid-19: Why Hong Kong's 'third wave' is a warning

Until recently, the city was seen as a poster child in its handling of the pandemic. What went wrong?

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What exactly is a 'Karen' and where did the meme come from?

To many the Karen meme - and its male equivalent Ken - sums up a specific type of white privilege.

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The 'real' threat to Russia’s former doping mastermind

The ex-mastermind of Russian sports doping, Grigory Rodchenkov, now only appears in disguise. Matt Majendie explains why.

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Bollywood's 'warts and all' biopic on 'human computer'

Bollywood actress Vidya Balan plays Shakuntala Devi who dazzled the world with her skill with numbers.

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The middle-css Pakistani students fighting for a homeland dream

Shahdad Mumtaz died for his beliefs. Could a missing student end up waging war on the Pakistani state?

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Iran says fires missiles from underground in Gulf war games

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they launched ballistic missiles from "the depths of the Earth" on Wednesday during the last day of military exercises near sensitive Gulf waters. The launches came a day after the Guards struck a mock-up of a US aircraft carrier with volleys of missiles near the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for a fifth of world oil output. The Iranian manoeuvres were staged amid heightened tensions between Iran and its decades-old arch enemy the United States.

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Maine shark attack: US woman killed by great white

A retired New York fashion executive with a "zest" for life dies in a rare shark attack near Portland.

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Minnesota police make arrest in 34-year cold case using DNA, genetic testing

“My mom loved to help people,” her daughter Gina Haggard wrote in a statement read by police.

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South Florida still fully in forecast path of what is expected to be Tropical Storm Isaias

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The disturbance now called Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine has not yet become Tropical Storm Isaias, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday in its latest public advisory. The storm still lacks a well-defined center of circulation, but it is expected to become a tropical storm Wednesday night, Senior Hurricane Specialist Daniel Brown wrote in the latest forecast ...

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Rudy Giuliani interviewed Dr. Stella Immanuel — doctor who previously preached about alien DNA — on his radio show calling her his 'hero'

Giuliani also said he's gotten the medication for four of his friends because "it's hard to get hydroxychloroquine."

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What Pullout? Feds Gas Moms in Fresh Portland Crackdown

PORTLAND—With roughly two-dozen federal officers in riot gear marching towards her, Demetria Hester linked arms with two other mothers in yellow shirts. “Hands up!” she chanted. “Don’t shoot!” responded the crowd, warily watching a line of federal agents coming towards them from behind a cloud of tear gas and smoke from munition fire. Though the number of protesters in downtown Portland had dwindled to about 100 shortly after midnight Thursday, the number of federal agents out on the streets was larger than ever. Hours after Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced the gradual removal of federal law enforcement officers from Portland, more than 200 of those officers were clashing with protesters outside the federal courthouse, using tear gas to clear the surrounding streets.Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and President Donald Trump had disputed the governor’s announcement, the former tweeting that federal officers would “remain in Portland until the violent activity toward our federal facilities ends.” And if the scene in Portland early Thursday morning was any indication, the unrest there isn’t close to finished.The line of federal agents, holding shields and riot shotguns, shoved a wall of protesters back from the front of the courthouse. Then came the tear gas, lobbed into the crowd by U.S. Marshals and officers with the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. ‘It’s Spooky Right Now’: Inside the Creepy Federal Crackdown on Portland ProtestersProtesters frantically dodged the flying thick metal canisters and backed away from the rising smoke. With her hands still in the air, Hester pulled down a respirator mask over her mouth. “Hands up!” she kept chanting through her mask, and then slid on a pair of goggles. “Don’t shoot!” came the crowd’s reply, muffled by the sting of tear gas and the sound of jostled bodies.  After tackling and arresting a protester, federal officers continued throwing tear gas into the crowd to clear the area. Her bloodshot eyes tearing up, Hester backed away from the heavy volley of teargas and munitions, coughing into her respirator.  “We weren’t doing anything wrong,” she told The Daily Beast between coughs. “We were just peacefully protesting.” Indeed, before officers closed in, Hester and the other demonstrators standing in front of the courthouse had been peacefully chanting. “George Floyd.” “Breonna Taylor.” “Black Lives Matter.” Earlier in the night, however, a small number of protesters had become violent: shining lasers at officer’s faces and chucking fireworks at the federal courthouse. Now it appeared police officers were targeting specific people for arrest, and tear gassing anyone else in the way. Another demonstrator dressed in yellow—the designated color of the so-called “Wall of Moms,” a group of mothers focused on defending Black lives from police brutality—offered Hester a moist towelette to rub across her stinging eyes. Though Hester came out Wednesday night to protest police brutality alongside other yellow-shirted moms, the 45-year-old mother of two and grandmother of three has been active in the Black Lives Matter movement since May 2017. It was then Hester was assaulted by convicted killer Jeremy Christian the day before he killed two men on a Portland commuter train following a racist tirade. In her testimony, Hester said she interrupted Christian as he was screaming about minorities, after which he hit her in the face with a bottle, badly bruising her right eye. The next day, Christian directed another racist tirade at a small group of young girls, and fatally stabbed two men who interfered. The trial ended late last month with a sentence of life in prison without parole. “It was really after that trial that I started coming down here,” Hester said of the protest site, where a final burst of intense clashes were coming to an end. Hester and a few other mothers asked me where my car was and insisted on walking me there, because “that’s what moms do.” Hester, alongside several other Black activist mothers, has helped take charge of the Wall of Moms alongside a group called Moms United for Black Lives after the former’s original founder was accused of “anti-blackness.”Amid the chaos on the street, Hester recounted the day she was attacked by Christian, when she approached an officer with the Portland Police Bureau and pointed her attacker out. Christian was not arrested.“That white supremacist got special treatment from the police. That’s not acceptable,” she said, pausing to spit out the taste of tear gas. “And that’s what we’re here fighting for today.” So even if the feds did pull out of her city, it was hard to imagine activists like Hester would be satisfied.“It won’t make a difference if they leave or stay,” Hester said, referring to the federal officers. “It all comes down to white privilege in this country.” 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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New research suggests COVID-19 can spread via aerosol transmission -- and might affect tall people more

A new survey has found more evidence to suggest that people can become infected with COVID-19 through aerosol transmission, which could be prevented by wearing a mask. Carried out by data scientists in the UK, Norway, and the US, the study is one of the first to investigate which personal and work-related factors can lead to COVID-19 transmission. After surveying 2,000 people in the UK and US, the researchers found that the data from both countries suggests that aerosol transmission of the virus -- via microdroplets which are so small that they remain suspended in the air for several hours -- is very likely.

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'Umbrella Man' who broke windows in initial George Floyd protests a white supremacist, police say

The man, police said, “wanted to sow discord and racial unrest by breaking out the windows." His identity has not been released.

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My wife was detained, released, and disappeared again in China. Here's my message on behalf of my people, the Uighurs.

The author, Mamutjan Abdurehim, is a Uighur father from Xinjiang — the Chinese region synonymous with surveillance, detentions, and forced labor.

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Republican says he will take Trump-promoted Covid-19 treatment after implying he contracted coronavirus by wearing a mask

A Texas Republican who tested positive for Covid-19 wrongly suggested he may have contracted the novel coronavirus by wearing a face mask — and said he would be taking an unproven treatment touted by Donald Trump.Louie Gohmert (R—Tx) tested positive on Wednesday during a White House procedural screening just before he was set to fly with the president to Texas on Air Force One.

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British Airways is auctioning millions of dollars worth of lounge art in a hasty attempt to raise cash – see the extravagant collection

The entire collection was valued by auction house Sotheby's at around $1.7 million but one piece auctioned so far fetched more than that by itself.

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The ultimate high ground: Russia and US try to set rules for space weapons

Russia, the U.S., and other space-going nations are trying to establish a military presence in space around Earth – and defend themselves from rivals.

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Trump: 'Nobody likes me'

President Trump is blaming his personality, not his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic that has left more than 151,000 Americans dead, for his low approval ratings when it comes to the crisis.A Morning Consult poll released Monday found that 59 percent of voters do not approve of Trump's handling of the pandemic, with just 36 percent approving. During a coronavirus briefing on Tuesday, Trump touched on these bleak numbers, wondering aloud why Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is polling better."It's interesting, he's got a very good approval rating and I like that," Trump said. "It's good. Because remember, he's working for this administration. He's working with us. We could've gotten other people. We could've gotten somebody else. It didn't have to be Dr. Fauci. He's working with our administration. And for the most part, we've done pretty much what he and others ... recommended. And he's got this high approval rating, so why don't I have a high approval rating ... with respect to the virus?"As Trump sees it, since Fauci is working for the government, the goodwill shown to him should extend to the president, and he finds it "sort of curious" why Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, are "highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That's all." > Trump lamenting Fauci's popularity, saying it's "sort of curious a man works for us with us very closely, Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Birx also highly thought of, and yet they're highly thought of but nobody likes me." pic.twitter.com/8lIT2dVbfL> > -- Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 28, 2020More stories from theweek.com Pelosi to implement new order requiring all lawmakers wear masks on House floor Republicans' coronavirus aid bill is a joke. It might take a stock market crash to change their minds. The Pentagon wants a new nuke because it might fire off the old ones by mistake

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Tennessee state senator charged with stealing federal funds

A Tennessee state senator has been charged with stealing more than $600,000 in federal funds received by a health care company she directed and using the money to pay for her wedding and other personal expenses, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. A criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday charges state Sen. Katrina Robinson with theft and embezzlement involving government programs and wire fraud, U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said in a news release. Robinson, a Democrat elected to the General Assembly in 2018 from a Memphis district, is also the director of The Healthcare Institute, which provides training for jobs in the health care field, prosecutors said.

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Iran launches underground ballistic missiles during exercise

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched underground ballistic missiles Wednesday as part of an exercise involving a mock-up American aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting its network of subterranean missile sites. Although state television documentaries have focused on operations at underground bases, all have avoided showing geographic details revealing their locations. Wednesday's launch from what appears to be central Iran's desert plateau may have changed that amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S. over its tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as economic pressures grow.

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U.S. cybersecurity firm says Beijing-linked hackers target Vatican ahead of talks

Hackers linked to the Chinese government have infiltrated Vatican computer networks, including the Roman Catholic Church's Hong Kong-based representative, a U.S. firm that tracks state-backed cyber attacks said on Wednesday . It said the attacks began in May. The Vatican and Beijing were expected to engage in talks this year over the renewal of a landmark 2018 deal that stabilised relations between China and the Church. U.S. cybersecurity firm Recorded Future said in the report that the attacks targeted the Vatican and the Catholic diocese of Hong Kong, including the head of the Hong Kong Study Mission, who is seen as Pope Francis' de facto representative to China.

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Here’s Why Your Federal Unemployment Benefits Could Be Delayed For Months - Forbes

Here’s Why Your Federal Unemployment Benefits Could Be Delayed For Months  Forbes

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Houston's Largest Newspaper Tells Trump Texans 'Are Losing Confidence' in His Leadership - Newsweek

1. Houston's Largest Newspaper Tells Trump Texans 'Are Losing Confidence' in His Leadership  Newsweek
2. Trump: Republicans opposed to funding FBI building in COVID-19 bill 'should go back to school and learn'  Fox News
3. Trump Push for FBI Building Funds in Coronavirus Relief Package Sparks Opposition, Confusion  The Wall Street Journal
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Trump nominee for Pentagon faces Senate grilling after Islamophobia claims - Reuters

1. Trump nominee for Pentagon faces Senate grilling after Islamophobia claims  Reuters
2. Trump’s nominee for senior Pentagon job in trouble heading into hearing  The Washington Post
3. Overnight Defense: Senate GOP coronavirus bill includes $29.4B for Pentagon | US, Australia focus on China in key meeting | TheHill  The Hill
4. GOP tucks $8 billion for military weaponry in coronavirus bill  NBC News
5. GOP Tucks $8 Billion for Military Weaponry in Virus Bill  U.S. News & World Report
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Scientists solve mysterious origin of Stonehenge megaliths - New York Post

1. Scientists solve mysterious origin of Stonehenge megaliths  New York Post
2. Mystery of origin of Stonehenge megaliths solved  BBC News
3. Stonehenge boulder origin traced to area 15 miles from ancient site - Business Insider  Business Insider
4. Archaeologists discover likely source of Stonehenge's giant sarsen stones  The Guardian
5. Researchers Solve A Question About Stonehenge Megaliths' Origin  NPR
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Google wants Samsung to kill Bixby, Galaxy App Store - Ars Technica

1. Google wants Samsung to kill Bixby, Galaxy App Store  Ars Technica
2. Google reportedly negotiating with Samsung to push Assistant over Bixby  The Verge
3. Why Samsung shouldn’t listen to Google’s request for more control  SamMobile
4. Google bans 29 spamming apps from its Play Store – see full list here!  Gizchina.com
5. Google reportedly offers Samsung a lucrative deal to prioritize Assistant and Play Store  Engadget
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Inside Kendall Jenner's 'serene' home: 'There aren’t a lot of ragers going on here' - Page Six

1. Inside Kendall Jenner's 'serene' home: 'There aren’t a lot of ragers going on here'  Page Six
2. Inside Kendall Jenner's Cozy L.A. Hideaway | Open Door | Architectural Digest  Architectural Digest
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AG Barr Calls Black Lives Matter Protests in Portland ‘an Assault’ on U.S. Government in Testy Hearing

In his first appearance ever before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr declined to say that political concerns weren’t animating the Trump administration’s use of federal troops to crack down on Black Lives Matter demonstrators.Asked by Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) if he’d discussed the politics of the crackdown with Trump or anyone in his inner circle, Barr didn’t specifically mention the Department of Justice operations but confirmed that the election “comes up” in his conversations with the president. “I’m a member of the Cabinet,” said Barr, “and there’s an election going on.”Pressed further by Nadler on the topic, Barr demurred: “I’m not going to get into my discussions with the president.” Bully Boy Bill Barr is America’s Ultimate Chaos AgentAs well, Barr indicated he views protesters in Portland, Oregon, not as demonstrators demanding Black liberation or defending themselves from an unwanted federal intrusion but as insurrectionists.“What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called a protest,” Barr said in his highly anticipated testimony. “It is, by any objective measure, an assault on the government of the United States.”Later, in response to GOP questioning, Barr thundered “is that OK?” in outlining demonstrators’ alleged offenses against federal officers. “I reject the idea that the Department has flooded anywhere and attempted to suppress demonstrators… We are at the courthouse defending the courthouse, we’re not out there looking for trouble.” Barr’s rhetoric represented the latest escalation by the Trump administration in demonizing the protests, which are part of what has become the largest sustained movement in American history. A Monday statement from the U.S. Marshals, a component of the Justice Department, called elements within the protesters “violent extremists,” a term typically used by the U.S. government to describe domestic terrorists, though a Marshals spokesperson said the reference was unintentional. “In the wake of George Floyd’s death, violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak senseless havoc and destruction on innocent victims,” Barr contended. Democrats fumed through the hearing on what they saw as Barr’s hypocrisy on that count. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) asked Barr whether he was aware of the pro-Trump protests in Michigan targeting Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, which featured heavily armed demonstrators. Barr said no. “You are aware of certain kinds of protesters, but in Michigan when protesters carried guns and Confederate flags and called for the governor of Michigan to be shot and lynched, somehow you are not aware of that, somehow you didn’t know about it, so you didn’t send federal agents in to do to the president’s supporters what you did to the president’s protesters,” charged Jayapal. The testimony from Barr, which has been more than a year in the making, has been hotly anticipated by Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill as an opportunity to litigate a number of his actions as Trump’s attorney general. Over the past year, Barr has overseen a reduction in the desired sentence and then the commutation of Trump ally Roger Stone’s conviction; the withdrawal of the criminal case against another Trump ally, Michael Flynn; the tear-gassing of Black Lives Matter protesters in D.C.’s Lafayette Park; an effort to oust the New York federal attorney handling sensitive investigations into Trumpworld; the transference of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort from prison to home confinement; and the deployment of armed, militarized federal agents against protesters in Portland over the objections of local and state elected officials. The growing portfolio of outrages that Barr has assembled has been overwhelming for House Democrats, some of whom have embraced the idea that the only remaining avenue for holding the attorney general—who has already been held in contempt of Congress—to account is to impeach him. But getting Barr on the House Judiciary witness stand, which was originally set for March and then later postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, is widely seen as the first step in whatever House Democrats decide to do next.In his opening statement, Nadler previewed the crux of Democrats’ case by arguing that Barr has been Trump’s fixer. “Your tenure,” Nadler told Barr, “is marked by a persistent war against the department’s professional core in an apparent effort to secure favors for the president.”Barr shot back that he was trying “to reestablish the rule of law.”Trump Administration Plots Crackdown by Feds in Cities NationwideThe attorney general’s handling of nationwide protests proved the focus of the hearing from the beginning. Federal agents, including the Marshals and others from the Department of Homeland Security, cited vandalism against the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in Portland as a justification for their persistent presence. Barr, in his opening statement, called such vandalism the work of “hundreds of rioters.” Yet the federal response has generated the majority of the violence at the protests, which has included shooting protesters in the head with rubber bullets; breaking the hand of an unarmed Navy veteran; frequent pepper-spray dousings and tear-gassings; and street arrests without probable cause by minimally identified federal agents driving unmarked vans. Barr equivocated on whether federal agents can arrest protesters without probable cause, saying they could “not strictly” arrest someone because they were proximate to someone they believed was violent. But he demurred about whether such a thing represented an actual arrest, saying “that would require an intensive review” into each circumstance. It remains unknown exactly how many people in Portland have been arrested by federal agents during the July deployments. At one point, late in the hearing, Barr called pepper spray a “very important nonlethal tool” against “rioters” and added, “When people resist law enforcement, they’re not peaceful.”“There is no precedent for the Department of Justice actively seeking out conflict with American citizens, under such flimsy pretext, or for such petty purposes,” said Nadler. He said Barr “aided and abetted the worst failings of the president.”Elected officials, from Oregon’s governor to both its U.S. senators to the Portland mayor, have denounced the federal presence as a provocative escalation of violence. Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf have vowed to remain until the protests are quelled. ‘Shaking in Their Boots’: Trump Wanted a Portland-Style Offensive in ChicagoLast week, Barr justified a coming “surge” in federal law enforcement to Chicago, Albuquerque, and other cities—expected to last through the November election—by citing the Black Lives Matter protests as a source of public disrespect toward police. Black Lives Matter activists and their allies in Chicago are seeking an injunction against the use of Portland-style federal violence. After acknowledging “it is understandable” for Black Americans to distrust police, Barr said it was “an oversimplification” to view “some deep-seated racism generally infecting our police departments.” Defunding police is “grossly irresponsible,” he said, portraying crime as a “massively greater” threat to Black lives than police. Nadler countercharged: “At your direction, Department officials have downplayed the effects of systemic racism and abandoned the victims of police brutality; refused to hold abusive police departments accountable for their actions; and expressed open hostility to the Black Lives Matter movement.”But later in the hearing, Democrats also pressed Barr over his handling of criminal prosecutions stemming from Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) repeatedly asked Barr why Stone appeared to get special exceptions for leniency based on his age and conduct. “Can you think of any other cases where the defendant threatened to kill a witness, threatened a judge... where the DOJ claimed those were mere technicalities?” asked Deutch. “Can you think of even one?” Barr raised his voice in response, asserting the judge agreed with his analysis, though the witness in question, Randy Credico, did say he felt threatened by Stone. Democrats also tried to nail down definitive answers from Barr on a number of other subjects, such as whether he believed increased voting-by-mail increased the risk of voter fraud as Trump has alleged. Barr said it did. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) also raised concerns Trump would move the date of the election or even reject the results, given Trump’s arguments about absentee voting and the possibility that final results won’t be known for some time after Election Day. Barr tersely responded, “if the results are clear, I would leave office.” GOP Senators Will Say This Much: Trump Photo Op Wasn’t a Good LookBarr also seemed to dismiss the convictions and guilty pleas reached by Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, saying that the Justice Department would not prosecute “some esoteric, made-up crime, but [rather] a meat-and-potatoes crime.”On Tuesday, Barr—who wrote in his prepared opening statement that he is not “the President’s factotum”—received a warm reception from Republicans, for whom the attorney general has become a hero. The top House Judiciary Republican, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), said last month the attorney general was doing “the Lord’s work.” “Spying. That’s why they’re after you, Mr. Attorney General,” Jordan said on Tuesday, before proceeding to portray the Black Lives Matter protests as violent through an extensive video that showed no police-induced violence.   A day before Barr’s hearing, a D.C. National Guard officer present at the Lafayette Park protest on June 1 told a different House committee that “the use of force against demonstrators in the clearing operation was an unnecessary escalation of the use of force.” Barr has denied accounts placing him in command responsibility for suppressing the protest. But the officer, West Point graduate and Iraq veteran Adam DeMarco, recounted Barr conferring with the Park Police shortly before they advanced to clear protesters from the square for Trump’s photo op. “From my observation, those demonstrators—our fellow American citizens—were engaged in the peaceful expression of their First Amendment rights,” DeMarco told the House natural-resources committee on Monday. “Yet they were subjected to an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force.”Barr, questioned by Jayapal, dismissed his comments. “I don’t remember DeMarco as being involved in any decision-making,” he said, implying DeMarco was not credible since he “ran as a Democratic candidate in Maryland.” 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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2 arrested for attacking senator during Wisconsin protests

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'Put your mask on!': Lawmakers erupt after Jim Jordan throws a temper tantrum during the big tech hearing

Lawmakers slammed Rep. Jim Jordan at the antitrust hearing after he interrupted a colleague accusing him of raising "fringe conspiracy theories."

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Meghan Markle compromised privacy of five friends in legal document, court hears

The Duchess of Sussex was accused of compromising the privacy of her own friends by supplying their names in a legal document that she wants to remain secret, the High Court heard on Wednesday. The duchess "freely" and "without being compelled" disclosed the identities of five friends whose privacy she now fears will be breached. Meghan gave the names in a confidential document to Associated Newspapers, the publisher of The Mail on Sunday, who she is suing for breach of privacy and copyright over its publication of a handwritten letter to her father, Thomas Markle. In legal submissions, the duchess has warned that being forced to identify the friends "is an unacceptable price to pay" in pursuit of her legal claim. She is arguing that naming them would breach their privacy under the European Convention on Human Rights, while the newspaper argues that they must be disclosed as a key principle of "open justice". At one stage in Wednesday's court proceedings, Meghan's barrister accidentally let slip the surname of one of the friends his client is seeking to keep anonymous. Mr Justice Warby, the judge, suggested such an error was "bound to happen" before immediately ordering that the name should not be reported. It also emerged that only one of the friends – Friend B, an American citizen who says she approached People magazine of her own accord – has given a witness statement. A barrister for the newspaper group said the statement "has been shown to be unsatisfactory", but did not go into any further detail. It was disclosed that the duchess agreed to pay in full £67,888 in costs to Associated Newspapers after the publisher successfully argued that elements of her case be struck out. The costs are just a fraction of a multi-million legal bill expected should the case go to a full trial next year.

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Trump COVID Task Force to Guvs: Make Masks Mandatory Before You Fall Into Red Zone

As states in the South and Southwest grapple with how to control the spread of the coronavirus, officials on President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force cautioned the nation’s governors Tuesday that a new set of states is beginning to experience an uptick in positive cases and recommended that local leaders implement mask mandates and close bars to contain the outbreaks.Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator for the task force, said the positivity rate in states such as Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Colorado was increasing and warned they should quickly take action before they fall into what she described as the “red COVID zones” category. Birx defined the red zones as those states with more than 100 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people and more than a 10 percent test positivity rate.“By the time you see hospitalizations, your community spread is so wide that you’ve flipped into a red state incredibly quickly,” Birx said, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Daily Beast. “By the time you see it, up to 80 or 90 percent of your county already has more than 10 percent positivity rate.”The warnings from Birx and other task force officials come as the administration is pushing states across the country to reopen schools, a point Vice President Mike Pence reiterated on the call. Pence said the task force would support whatever decision state leaders make but that the team was beginning to see evidence that “encouraging masks,” closing bars, and limiting indoor gatherings were slowing the spread in some of the hot spot states. Birx was more explicit with her advice, saying that the “100 percent mask mandates” played a significant role in containing the virus in those states.Trump in the past has resisted mask wearing and said in a Fox News interview this month that he would not impose a national mask mandate. On Monday, Trump retweeted a video shared by his son Donald Trump Jr. that featured a doctor saying masks were unnecessary. Twitter restricted Donald Trump Jr.’s account and removed the video from the platform.Trump Pushes Fake COVID Cure From Fringe Doctors, Banned by FacebookDr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top vaccine official, was also on the call with governors and said states should adhere to Birx’s recommendations even if it wasn’t politically expedient to do so. “You may be reluctant to do that because the general population is saying, ‘Wait a minute, we’re not that bad,’” Fauci said, referring to the advice of implementing mask mandates and restricting large gatherings of people. “You are worse than you think you are because where you are now is going to be reflected and what you are going to see… weeks from now. I know it may sound intrusive but it really isn’t.”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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My wife was detained, released, and disappeared again in China. Here's my message on behalf of my people, the Uighurs.

The author, Mamutjan Abdurehim, is a Uighur father from Xinjiang — the Chinese region synonymous with surveillance, detentions, and forced labor.

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Alabama Republican celebrates KKK member's birthday as state remembers civil rights hero John Lewis

A Republican senator in Alabama celebrated a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member’s birthday at the same time hundreds were honouring the life of civil rights hero John Lewis.State Representative Will Dismukes took part in an event marking the KKK grand wizard and former Confederate Army General, Nathan Bedford Forrest, as Alabama honoured the late Georgia Democrat this weekend.

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Great white shark kills woman in rare attack in Maine, authorities say

Maine has recorded only one shark attack since 1837, researchers say.

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Australia's fires 'killed or harmed three billion animals'

The recent bushfires were "one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history", conservationists say.

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US to pull 12,000 troops out of Germany as Trump blasts 'delinquent' Berlin

Pentagon insists move is about long-term strategy but Trump says: ‘We’re reducing the force because they’re not paying their bills’The US is planning to pull nearly 12,000 troops out of Germany in a move the Pentagon insisted was about long-term strategy but which Donald Trump said was to punish Berlin for low defence spending.Of a total of 11,900 personnel that will be leaving Germany under the proposal, 6,400 will be returning to the US, from where they could be used for rotational deployments in eastern Europe and around the world, while 5,600 will be repositioned within other Nato countries, particularly Belgium and Italy.The defence secretary, Mark Esper, said the move would begin within weeks, but also stressed that planning for the redeployment was in its early stages and it would cost several billion dollars.He repeatedly denied that the decision was motivated by Trump’s frequently expressed desire to move troops out of Germany to teach Berlin a lesson for not spending enough on defence. The Pentagon put out a statement saying the withdrawal would “strengthen Nato, enhance the deterrence of Russia” and boost the flexibility of the US military.Minutes later, the president told journalists at the White House he had ordered the troop withdrawal because Berlin was being “delinquent” by not spending enough on defence.“[US troops] are there to protect Germany, right? And Germany is supposed to pay for it,” Trump said. “Germany’s not paying for it. We don’t want to be the suckers any more. The United States has been taken advantage of for 25 years, both on trade and on the military. So we’re reducing the force because they’re not paying their bills.”Trump wrongly claimed, as he has many times in the past, that Germany was not paying its “Nato fees”. In fact, the friction between the US and Germany, as well as other European allies, is about national defence spending. The allies agreed in 2014 to spend 2% of their GDP on defence by 2024. Germany is currently on 1.5%, but Belgium, where the US will move some of its European Command (Eucom) headquarters, spends less than 1%, and Italy, to where the US will move an F-16 fighter squadron and two army battalions from Germany, spends 1.2%.Diplomats and former US officials have described Trump as fixated on Germany and its chancellor, Angela Merkel.“He’s obsessed with the idea that Germany is taking advantage of the US, over defence, but on trade, selling too many cars to the US for example. He has always been particularly rude to Merkel,” a former White House official said.Emily Haber, the German ambassador to Washington, said US troops “have become neighbors, partners and friends while protecting transatlantic security and projecting American power and interests globally”.“We have been and are proud to host US troops,” Haber wrote on Twitter. “A strong, and united Nato is crucial for deterrence and power projection. Germany is a steadfast Nato ally and third largest contributor to its budget.”Constanze Stelzenmüller, a senior fellow at the center on the US and Europe at the Brookings Institution, said: “I have sympathy for the criticism of Germany’s low defense spending, which does set a bad example for other member states who spend even less – it’s against Europe’s and our own interest.“Moving Eucom to Belgium actually makes sense, but I find the strategic rationale for the other movements much less persuasive.”Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, said: “Champagne must be flowing freely this evening at the Kremlin. The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw forces from Germany is not only an affront to one of our closest allies, but will ultimately weaken US efforts to counter Kremlin aggression in Europe.”Trump’s relationship with Moscow, the issue that triggered his impeachment, came under renewed scrutiny earlier on Wednesday morning, when he admitted he had not confronted Vladimir Putin with intelligence suggesting Russia was paying Taliban fighters bounties for killing US soldiers in Afghanistan.“I have never discussed it with him,” the president told Axios on HBO. “That was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly that’s an issue that many people said was fake news.”Esper argued the redeployments would make troops available to rotate in and out of the Baltic states, Poland and the Black Sea region. The defence secretary said: “it enhances deterrence, strengthens the allies, reassures.” He claimed he had received “very positive feedback” from the Nato countries affected.He said US Africa Command, currently in Stuttgart, would be moved out, to a new headquarters yet to be decided.Critics of the move have said it would be very expensive, time-consuming and would damage Nato cohesion and deterrence against Russia. Rotating troops eastwards would be more expensive and build less trust in the host countries, they argue, while at the same time undermining morale by making soldiers spend more time away from their families.But retired Lt Col Daniel Davis, senior fellow at the Defense Priorities thinktank, argued that whatever the short-term justifications, pulling troops out of Germany made strategic sense.“We don’t have a need for that many troops,” Lt Col Davis said. “Because there’s no security threat that those troops actually help with, in my view. Russia is already deterred. If you took all the American troops out of Europe … that’s not going to change the deterrent factor for Russia because the Nato combined militaries are far more powerful than Russia, plus they have nuclear weapons.”

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Fact check: Hurricane Hanna did not collapse border wall in Texas

A viral video falsely claims Hurricane Hanna was responsible for knocking down a border wall in southeast Texas.

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Revel suspends New York electric moped sharing service after second reported death

Electric moped sharing service Revel said on Tuesday it was suspending service in New York after a string of accidents and reports of a second rider killed in the city in recent weeks. Revel said in a statement it was "reviewing and strengthening our rider accountability and safety measures and communicating with city officials, and we look forward to serving you again in the near future." New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told a Tuesday news briefing his office spoke to the company and made clear the situation was unacceptable.

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Americans warned not to plant mysterious seeds appearing in the mail - The Guardian

1. Americans warned not to plant mysterious seeds appearing in the mail  The Guardian
2. Mystery seeds from China found in unsolicited packages across the U.S.  CBS News
3. States are warning people about suspicious packages of seeds that appear to be from China  CNN
4. Don't plant seeds sent from China and other foreign countries, agriculture boss warns Utahns  Salt Lake Tribune
5. Mystery seeds from China are landing in Americans' mail boxes  CBS News
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Iran blasts dummy US aircraft carrier with missiles - BBC News

Iran blasts dummy US aircraft carrier with missiles  BBC NewsView Full Coverage on Google News

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Kodak soars another 60% after Trump announces deal to manufacture generic drug ingredients - CNBC

1. Kodak soars another 60% after Trump announces deal to manufacture generic drug ingredients  CNBC
2. Kodak Shifts Into Drug Production With Help of $765 Million U.S. Loan  The Wall Street Journal
3. Kodak awarded $765 million government loan to produce drug ingredients  CNBC Television
4. Trump Administration To Loan Kodak $765M To Make Drug Ingredients : Coronavirus Live Updates  NPR
5. Trump touts Kodak loan and PPE procurement, defends hydroxychloroquine video  MarketWatch
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Metal Slug 2, SNK 40th Anniversary Edition, Tons More SNK Games Free With Twitch Prime - IGN

1. Metal Slug 2, SNK 40th Anniversary Edition, Tons More SNK Games Free With Twitch Prime  IGN
2. More SNK Classics Are Free To Claim Now On PC  GameSpot
3. SNK Reveals More Games Released With Twitch Prime  Bleeding Cool News
4. SNK is adding more free classics to Twitch Prime today  Destructoid
5. 23 Free PC Games Amazon Prime Members Get In July 2020  GameSpot
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Apple's China iPhone sales jump 225% in the second quarter as recovery continues, research shows - CNBC

Apple's China iPhone sales jump 225% in the second quarter as recovery continues, research shows  CNBC

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Lakers Head Coach Reveals Team’s Improvement Areas Ahead of Game Against Clippers - Essentially Sports

1. Lakers Head Coach Reveals Team’s Improvement Areas Ahead of Game Against Clippers  Essentially Sports
2. LeBron James, 'in the uncertainty of what 2020 has brought,' won't power down social media during NBA's restart  ESPN
3. Colin Cowherd picks the best duos in the NBA Bubble | THE HERD  The Herd with Colin Cowherd
4. NBA Western Conference Playoff Picture: Predicting Full Seeds and Final Bracket  Bleacher Report
5. LeBron is NOT still the best player in the world! - Max Kellerman | First Take  ESPN
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Coronavirus: Scaled back Hajj pilgrimage due to start in Saudi Arabia

Only a very limited number of Muslims living in the kingdom will be able to make the Hajj this year.

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Spain quarantine rules: The businesses fearing for their futures

Spain's struggling tourist businesses say the UK's new quarantine rules may drive them off the edge.

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Saudi Hajj coronavirus curbs mean 'no work, no salary, nothing'

Covid-19 has hit the annual Hajj and with no international pilgrims, many firms both in Saudi and abroad are suffering.

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Escape to North Korea: Defector at heart of COVID-19 case fled sex abuse investigation

Last week, a 24-year-old defector returned to North Korea the way he left in 2017, authorities say, but with a coronavirus pandemic raging in the background this time, his illicit trip drew far more attention. Facing a sexual assault investigation, Kim evaded high-tech South Korean border control systems by crawling through a drain pipe and swimming across the Han River to the North on July 19, the South Korean military has said. Kim's story as a defector begins and, so far, ends in the city of Kaesong, a North Korean border town that hosted a now-shuttered inter-Korean factory park and liaison office.

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Police agencies pulling out of Democratic convention

More than 100 police agencies are withdrawing from agreements to send personnel to bolster security at next month's Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, in part because they're concerned about a recent directive ordering police in the city to stop using tear gas to control crowds. A citizen oversight commission last week directed Milwaukee’s police chief to publicly account for why the department used tear gas during protests in late May and early June after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and to change Milwaukee's police policies to ban the use of tear gas and pepper spray.

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Nadler to Barr: 'Shame on you'

"You really can't hide behind legal fictions this time," Nadler said.

Half an hour before curfew on June 1, baton-swinging police fired smoke canisters, flashbang grenades and rubber bullets to drive protesters farther from the White House, enabling President Donald Trump to walk across Lafayette Park and hold up a Bible in front of St. John’s Church, a house of worship visited by U.S. presidents for two centuries.

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The birth of a militia: how an armed group polices Black Lives Matter protests

In Utah, members of a militia claim their presence deters protesters from becoming violent and destroying the stateThe Utah Citizens’ Alarm is only a month old, and yet it already boasts 15,000-plus members.The citizen militia’s recruits wear military fatigues and carry assault rifles. Their short-term goal, they say, is to act as a physical presence of intimidation to deter protesters from becoming violent and destroying the state of Utah. Their long-term goal: to arm and prepare the state of Utah against underground movements they believe will incite civil war.The group was conceived in reaction to a Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality organized by different groups in Provo, Utah, on 29 June. That day, a white protester pulled out a gun and shot another white man, who was not protesting but driving his vehicle into the protest route. Two shots were fired, and one hit the driver in the arm. Protesters claim the shooting was in self-defence because the driver was hitting marchers; the police found this claim to be unsubstantiated.When Casey Robertson, 47, watched a video of the incident, he felt outraged that this could happen in his “little town of Provo”. He posted on his Facebook page and a local yard sale page that “protesters descended on downtown Provo and terrorized citizens and SHOTS WERE FIRED.” He explained that Insurgence, one of the organizing group, was planning another protest for the next night and he rallied “concerned citizens” to come together, armed and ready to do their part in protecting downtown businesses.This was a call to arms. Utah Citizens’ Alarm was born.“I was like, ‘We need to stand together as citizens and go down there and show these people that we’re not going to allow violence, and that we are not going to allow these anarchist violent groups to tear down Provo,” Robertson told the Guardian. “It’s not going to happen without a fight.’”Utah Citizens’ Alarm has since organized regular military-style trainings for its members. Robertson says he has been tipped off “by secret sources within the government and law enforcement” that underground organizations like antifa are being funded by Isis, and are using groups like BLM to wreak havoc in the community to destroy American cities and ideals. Even if none of these theories stand up to scrutiny, he is dead set on not letting it happen.Robertson was born and raised in Provo. His dad was a Provo police officer and his mother a police dispatcher. He has voted both sides of the political aisle – he voted for Clinton and Obama, although he now considers himself a conservative. To him, this is not about politics, but good and evil, and he is ready to die for this cause.“My biggest fear, probably, is my children being brought up and having to grow up in a country that has completely lost its freedom, and that is under attack, and that is turning into this cesspool of violence and chaos,” he said. “Our enemy is now within, and that’s really scary to me.”This already has a chilling effect on protests: organizers have begun cancelling protests out of fear of Utah Citizens’ Alarm coming and escalating the already heated emotions. So far, militia members remain unchallenged, using their second amendment rights to openly bear arms in public throughout the state. ‘We are here to protect the community’That same Black Lives Matter protest that inspired Robertson’s fear was originally planned as a pro-police event in downtown Provo. John Sullivan, 26, the founder of Insurgence USA, a group for racial justice and police reform, organized a counter-protest alongside several other organizers. Protesters were to meet at the Provo police station at 6.30pm that night.Sullivan, one of the few black men organizing for racial justice in Utah, is not from Provo but Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Provo is a hyper-religious Latter-day Saint college town located 45 miles south of Salt Lake City. The city is made up of about 110,000 people, 88% white, 16.6% Hispanic, and less than 1% black. Local quirks include a strong second amendment culture, strong self-reliant groups, end of world preppers, a booming music scene and a charming Center Street that has at least three ice cream parlors and only recently got its first coffee shop, as the predominant demography does not drink coffee for religious purposes.The Black Lives Matter protesters started to march. They yelled “Whose streets? Our streets!” at drivers and lingered in front of cars, some of which started plowing through the crowd, claiming protesters had surrounded them and would not let them leave. (Videos show this was not the case.)Brian DeLong, a philosophy student at Utah Valley University, was grabbing a coffee when he saw protesters pass by. He joined in the march. At the intersection of University Avenue and Center Street, he was hit by a silver Excursion going southbound and immediately heard two gunshots, one after the other. DeLong bounced off the car and realized about five other people had also been hit. The driver frantically drove off.Nine minutes later, an ambulance appeared on the scene. The police did not come, and only appeared in full riot gear at 9.40pm when protesters made it back to the front of the police station.Drivers driving into protesters resulting in people shooting guns is becoming more frequent. On July 25, an Austin motorist drove into a crowd and fatally shot a protester. On the same night, another driver drove into protesters in Aurora, Colorado – except it was a protester who took out his gun and ended up shooting two fellow protesters.After the Provo protest, a policeman told Josianne Petit, 34, a criminal defense paralegal and founder of Mama & Papa Panthers, an organization dedicated to helping parents of all races in raising black children, that the police were inside watching the whole protest on Facebook Live. She said: “I felt fundamentally betrayed. I had worked with Provo PD extensively prior to that protest and I thought I had a good working relationship with them, but to hear the complete disregard they had for the lives of protesters was alarming to me, but also devastating.”Sullivan, the organizer, was not prepared for what transpired, nor did he know that anyone had a gun on his side of the protest. He created another Facebook event to hold a protest two days later in response.On that day, the two sides stood facing each other. The protesters carried posters; the Utah Citizens’ Alarm carried assault rifles. The protesters wore black; the paramilitia wore American flags. Both groups wore masks. On the west side, it was to protect themselves from the coronavirus. On the east side, masks were a protection from unwanted media attention.One young man carrying an assault rifle and two magazines of ammunition, with his face completely covered, pointed at the protesters and said: “What they have done is straight out of the communist manifesto … they say that your political beliefs are now your identity and, if somebody’s against your identity, they can justify whatever they do against you because they’re now repressing you for not agreeing with you.”He added: “Not everybody over there but the more extremists will agree with that. Black Lives Matter, as an organization, receives money from people who want to see violence happen.”Another young man walked over and said: “They hate America. They say they want to change America, that’s un-American.”The BLM protesters were authorized to march in the street. Utah Citizens’ Alarm was permitted to march on the sidewalks, guarding the storefronts from the protesters. About 250 policemen were brought in, as well as at least four snipers who stood on the roof of the Nu Skin building, a ten-storey building next to the Mormon temple.One police officer from Springville, a town just south of Provo, said he trusted 99.9% of the men and women with the guns, and said: “Those men and women would be the first people to take a bullet for any of the protesters there.”At the end of the march, Utah Citizens’ Alarm members came to the megaphone and repeated the Springville police officer’s line: “We are here to protect the community. We would be the first to take a bullet for each and every one of you.”Josey Gardner, 25, a protester and EMT studying English at BYU, asked: “Whose bullets are they protecting us from? They are the only ones with guns.” A chilling effect on free speechUtah Citizens’ Alarm is now organized into a pseudo-militia under the guidance of ex-military and ex-law enforcement on their newly formed board of advisers. They want Utah to be fully prepared for the “civil war” instigated by underground, militant forces.The group trains tirelessly. When on site, members are advised to move in groups of three and no less, because they have been told by informants on the inside that antifa attacks single out the strongest members in vulnerable situations. They have escape plans at every site, and promote a firm obedience to the local police, including when asked by them not to come to a protest.(Provo police chief Rich Ferguson made a statement that the Provo police have no relationship with the Utah Citizens’ Alarm, which Sergeant Nisha King, head of the Provo police department’s public information team, verified. )Meanwhile, militia members have now been to almost every protest on the Wasatch Front. They come to protests throughout the state with anywhere between 30 to 1,000 members in full uniform (sometimes homemade, sometimes military-grade), some in bulletproof vests, and openly carrying ARs. They silently stand in the background and observe, always on guard believing they may be called upon to act quickly if something goes wrong.A protest in Taylorsville was cancelled because too many protesters felt the risk was not worth being there. Robertson took this as a win.Jason Stevens, of Utah’s American Civil Liberties Union, stressed the importance of the historical context in what happened in the civil rights movement of the 1960s when armed groups, militias, local chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, white citizens councils, organizations both official and unofficial took it upon themselves to defend what they saw as their rights and property with violent and systemic intimidation and threats to African Americans and others in those areas.“I am not saying that is what is happening here. But with context, if you are a protester and you see groups like this showing up at your protest, that’s got to be in the back of your mind, this history of intimidation and threats.”Outside of Utah, these threats are present and real for protesters. In Omak, Washington, small civilian militias are forming to threaten protesters. In New Mexico, there is another civilian militia group that call themselves the New Mexico Civil Guard reacting to rioting and looting.In Portland, the threats to free speech and the right to protest are coming from the federal government, which has deployed unidentified agents to quell protests by forcibly grabbing protesters and taking them away in unidentified vehicles.BLM-adjacent groups held a “Stop Kidnapping Protesters” event in Salt Lake City on 22 July, in reference to what took place in Portland. Robertson and his team came in full garb and made a live video. Robertson said: “That’s the name of the protest – ‘Stop kidnapping protesters’. My boy over here translated it as ‘stop arresting criminals’. The awesome thing is these people that are out creating chaos and committing crimes, they are being watched. Law enforcement finally started to go around and pick them up and arrest them. I am all for it.”Additionally, lines between the second and first amendment are complicated, especially as open-carry laws in Utah make it legal for groups of heavily armed individuals to gather in places where the first amendment is being honored, such as protests.“If the right to bear arms is overriding the right to free speech, that may be cause for concern,” said Dr RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah. “Our constitutional doctrine hasn’t yet had the chance to really tussle with the question of what the presence of guns does to a free speech event. Short of more overt threats of violence, we usually protect protesters with guns in the same ways we protect protesters without them. But if the express goal of the armed individuals is to intimidate people who might otherwise share their views, that’s especially troubling.”In response to Utah Citizens’ Alarm, Utah protesters are now arming themselves. John Sullivan of Insurgence USA held his first armed protest on 22 July at the Utah state capitol, carrying an AR-15 and a magazine of ammo. He is encouraging Insurgence USA protesters to purchase guns so they can protect themselves if there is violence.“Basically, nobody in our group owns a gun except for me; nobody was planning on ever shooting anyone. So the fact that I bought a bulletproof vest and more magazines and our people are buying guns should say a lot. It shouldn’t be that way.”Petit, who also organizes alongside BLM and Insurgence USA, has recruited ex-military to train and arm her protesters, because she feels the threat is real as long as Utah Citizens’ Alarm is showing up.“The only way forward is to make sure we are prepared, because at this point the options the only options available to us are when things go crazy we lie down and die, or we fight back.“And I’m sorry, I’m not lying down for anybody.”

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