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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Trump who?  Senate GOP candidates in tight races avoid any mention of the president in campaign ads.  —  In his most recent television ad, Colorado's Cory Gardner cheerfully touts an outdoor conservation bill he recently wrote.  Arizona's Martha McSally denounces “communist China” in her 30-second clips.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

The humbling of the Anglo-American world  —  Abandonment of common sense during the pandemic has damaged the US and UK national brands  —  It takes effort to recapture how Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s hastened the demise of the Soviet Union.  Images of that triumphal moment are as fresh as yesterday.

Jobless claims at better-than-expected 1.3 million, total getting benefits falls to 18 million  — Weekly jobless claims totaled 1.314 million, compared with the Dow Jones estimate of 1.39 million.  — The total was a decline of 99,000 from a week ago.  — Continuing claims fell to 18.06 million, a drop of 698,000.

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 …

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

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.

A President Who Makes Us Puke—Just Like He Was Hired To Do  —  Probably you used to keep a bottle in your bathroom at home, or your parents did.  The stuff is called ipecac, and it is what physicians call an emetic.  —  The idea was that if someone swallowed something bad …

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 …

Why Do So Many White Women Hate Themselves?  —  Amid societal unrest, woke white women are proving to be a brainwashed force to be reckoned with.  —  Some might find it odd that so many seemingly middle-class, young, white women are taking up street theater with a vengeance.

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.

CDC director says agency won't revise school reopening guidelines despite WH push  —  (CNN)The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not revise its guidelines for reopening schools despite calls from the White House to do so, agency Director Dr. Robert Redfield said Thursday.

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 …

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 …

The Republican coronavirus meatgrinder  —  The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic continues to accelerate.  July 7 saw over 54,000 confirmed cases, a 72-percent increase over the previous two weeks.  Many hospital intensive care units are completely full in Texas, Florida, Arizona …

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 …

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 …