Joy Reid Takes Nightly Anchor Slot at MSNBC  —  She becomes one of the few Black women to anchor a major American evening news program.  The move was made by new leadership at NBC News, which runs the liberal-leaning cable network.  —  Joy Reid, who rose to television fame as a sharp critic …

Health official: Trump rally ‘likely’ source of virus surge  —  FILE - In this March 17, 2020, file photo, Tulsa Health Department director Dr. Bruce Dart takes part in a news conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa that drew thousands of people in late June …

Street in Front of Trump Tower Closes for Black Lives Matter Mural  —  Work on what President Trump called a “symbol of hate” was supposed to start last week before being postponed abruptly  —  New York City will start painting “Black Lives Matter” on Fifth Avenue directly in front …

Where's Trump's Financial Disclosure?  The White House Blames the Pandemic  —  The annual report was due last week under federal ethics rules, but the White House says it needs more time.  The president was already given a 45-day extension.  —  President Trump's annual financial disclosure report …

Biden Looks to Curb Covid-19 Economic Damage With ‘Buy American’ Plan  —  Presumptive Democratic nominee to propose in Pennsylvania speech limiting dependence on imports for critical medical supplies  —  WASHINGTON—Former Vice President Joe Biden is expected Thursday to outline a plan …

America is running short on masks, gowns and gloves.  Again.  —  Health-care workers are scrambling for supplies and reusing equipment as the coronavirus pandemic surges  —  Health-care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic are encountering shortages of masks, gowns …

This year's Senate races spell disaster for the Republican Party  —  Republicans are beginning to gird themselves for a landslide defeat for President Trump that drags the entire party down.  It could be even worse than they think.  —  Elections in both the House and Senate are increasingly syncing with broader presidential races.

I Cited Their Study, So They Disavowed It  —  If scientists retract research that challenges reigning orthodoxies, politics will drive scholarship.  —  The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is a peer-reviewed journal that claims to publish “only the highest quality scientific research.”

FBI Probes Chinese Exile, Including Work With Former Trump Aide Steve Bannon  —  Feds question source of funds for media company tied to Guo Wengui  —  The FBI is examining exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui and the money used to fund his media efforts in the U.S., including his work with Steve Bannon …

U.S. first lady Melania Trump statue set on fire in Slovenia  —  ROZNO, Slovenia (Reuters) - A wooden sculpture of U.S. first lady Melania Trump was torched near her hometown of Sevnica, Slovenia, on the night of July Fourth, as Americans celebrated U.S. Independence Day, said the artist who commissioned the sculpture.

On Some Planes, Empty Rows While Passengers Crowd Together  —  Airlines vowed to bring social distancing to the air.  In practice, some are and some aren't.  —  On a June 30 flight on American Airlines from Dallas to Newark, Joy Gonzalez, an aviation engineer based in Seattle …

U.S. Broadcasting Agency Will Not Extend Visas For Its Foreign Journalists  —  Dozens of foreign nationals working as journalists in the U.S. for Voice of America, the federal government's international broadcaster, will not have their visas extended once they expire, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.

Egypt tries to silence its critics in the United States by jailing their relatives  —  CAIRO — Reem Desouky, an American from Pennsylvania, was unfairly jailed in an Egyptian prison.  Mohamed Soltan, an activist in Northern Virginia who helped get her released in May, was himself once a prisoner in Egypt's jails.

Rudy Giuliani Calls New York Police After Being Pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen  —  Just a few weeks after the ‘Who is America?’ star made a clandestine appearance at a far-right rally, he managed to trick Donald Trump's personal attorney into an interview.  —  Sacha Baron Cohen strikes again.

NYPD limits retirement applications amid 400 percent surge this week  —  New York's Finest are putting in for retirement faster than the NYPD can handle — citing a lack of respect and the loss of overtime pay, The Post has learned.  —  A surge of city cops filing for retirement during …

As coronavirus surges, Houston confronts its hidden toll: People dying at home … HOUSTON — When Karen Salazar stopped by to check on her mother on the evening of June 22, she found her in worse shape than she expected.  Her mother, Felipa Medellín, 54, had been complaining …

Attorney General William P. Barr Announces Launch of Operation Legend  —  Today, Attorney General William P. Barr announced the launch of Operation Legend, a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative across all federal law enforcement agencies working in conjunction …

Trump's culture wars worked in 2016.  His aides worry the world has changed.  —  Donald Trump's team can agree on one thing: The president's latest Twitter outbursts and off-script grievances are hurting his reelection prospects.  —  That's about where the agreement ends.

Manhattan federal prosecutor ousted by Barr to testify before House panel  —  White House now says Trump was involved in firing US attorney  —  (CNN)Geoffrey Berman, the former US attorney in Manhattan fired last month following a tense standoff with Attorney General William Barr …

Unemployment Claims Show Continued Pressure on Economy: Live Updates  —  Here's what you need to know:  —  As rising coronavirus cases pushed some states to reverse course and reimpose shutdown orders on businesses, 1.3 million workers filed new claims for state unemployment benefits last week, the government reported on Thursday.

Scamocracy in America  —  How a fraudulent ruling class plundered our most precious inheritance.  —  Over the past fifty years the rules of public and even of private life in America have well-nigh reversed, along with the meaning of common words, e.g. marriage, merit, and equality.

Jacksonville attorneys file lawsuit to block city from hosting Republican National Convention amid pandemic  —  Hahn: ‘Too early to tell’ if GOP convention will be safe  —  Washington (CNN)Several attorneys in Jacksonville, Florida, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city in an attempt …

Mary Trump's Book Gives ‘Crazy Uncle’ a Whole New Meaning  —  FOUR MONTHS AND COUNTING...  With the president's niece, we meet a species we never thought we'd encounter on this Earth: a sane Trump with values and a conscience like the rest of us.  —  BEAST INSIDE

It Wasn't My Cancelation That Bothered Me.  It Was the Cowardice of Those Who Let It Happen  —  It doesn't take much to get cancelled these days.  Last month, my turn came around.  The experience was unpleasant, but also completely ludicrous.  And I learned a lot.  I learned how easily an institution will cave to a mob.

Obama admin shut down H1N1 testing, complicating Biden's attacks on Trump's coronavirus screening  —  Public health officials disagreed with Obama CDC's decision  —  Joe Biden is stepping up his attacks on the Trump administration's coronavirus testing management, saying Wednesday that …

‘The Second Wave’ of COVID Hits Israel Like a Tsunami  —  Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Israel has lost control of the contagion, the economy is cratering, unemployment's at 23 percent, and the new government is crumbling.  —  JERUSALEM—Like beachgoers informed there is no danger …

CIA Kept Giving Intel to Russia, Got Nothing Back  —  Intelligence sharing with Moscow is a one-way street, according to CIA veterans, but the Trump administration nevertheless saw it as a key step to a closer relationship.  —  Not long before Christmas in 2017, Vladimir Putin …

“You Seem To Have No Conscience”: Activists Stop Crown Heights Landlords From Evicting Tenants  —  Community activists staved off an attempted eviction in Crown Heights on Tuesday, following a lengthy stand-off with a landlord who tenants say had illegally harassed them into moving out during the pandemic.

32% of U.S. households missed their July housing payments  —  As the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continues, almost one-third of U.S. households, 32%, have not made their full housing payments for July yet, according to a survey by Apartment List, an online rental platform.