Links

As a meeting last August in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions on Venezuela was concluding, President Trump turned to his top aides and asked an unsettling question: With a fast unraveling Venezuela threatening regional security, why can't the U.S. just simply invade the troubled country?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ap-trump-pressed-aides-on-venezuela-invasion-us-official-says/



American voters disapprove 58 - 39 percent of the way President Donald Trump is handling immigration.
President Trump is racist, 49 percent of voters say, while 47 percent say he is not racist. But 50 percent of voters say the main motive for Trump's immigration policies is "a sincere interest in controlling our borders," while 44 percent say the main motive is "racist beliefs."
Democrats in Congress are more interested in "exploiting the nation's immigration issue for political gain," 60 percent of voters say, while 34 percent say they are more interested in "resolving the nation's immigration issue."
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2554


National Football League players who kneel in protest during the National Anthem are not unpatriotic, American voters say 58 - 35 percent in a Quinnipiac University National Poll released recently.
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2546


A federal judge in California ordered the Department of Education to stop collecting student loan debts from students who were defrauded by Corinthian Colleges.
https://www.upi.com/Education-Department-ordered-to-halt-loan-collection-from-defrauded-students/8691529524646/


James Gips, Who Extended Computer Use to the Disabled, Dies at 72
He developed the Eagle Eyes and Camera Mouse systems.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/obituaries/james-gips-who-extended-computer-use-to-the-disabled-dies-at-72.html


Camera Mouse was invented at Boston College to help people with disabilities use the computer. We make it available for free download, with no gimmicks or advertisements or registration, because we want to help as many people as possible.
http://www.cameramouse.org/index.html


Store Manager Fired After Telling Employee with a Child on Life Support to Turn Up to Work or Quit
https://people.com/human-interest/store-manager-fired-after-backlash-employee-son-life-support/


the United States has a higher level of income inequality and a larger share of low-income residents than almost any other advanced nation. Only Spain and Greece, whose economies have been ravaged by the euro-zone crisis, have more households earning less than half the nation’s median income — an indicator that unusually large numbers of people either are poor or close to being poor.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/07/04/is-it-great-to-be-a-worker-in-the-u-s-not-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-developed-world/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d011d8b46039


Two people in England have been confirmed to have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, the same chemical weapon that was used against an ex-Russian spy earlier this year.
Two people in England have been confirmed to have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, the same chemical weapon that was used against an ex-Russian spy earlier this year.


Hotter weather will surge across the southwestern United States later this week and this weekend, even reaching parts of coastal California.
"The same high pressure area that has been bringing record-challenging heat to the eastern two-thirds of the nation since the end of June will gradually re-position itself over the Southwest by week’s end and into the upcoming weekend," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Kyle Elliott.
Temperatures at the peak of the heat will run 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. This results in temperatures at or above 100 F in Los Angeles and near 90 F in San Diego.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/high-heat-to-send-temperatures-past-100-degrees-across-los-angeles-southwestern-us-following-july-4th/70005381


Large wildfires grew across the American West on Wednesday, keeping thousands of people out of their homes for the July 4 holiday and forcing some strict bans on fireworks to prevent new fires from igniting in the hot, dry region.
The National Interagency Fire Center on Wednesday reported more than 60 large, active blazes across the country, most in the drought-stricken West where holiday festivities could lead to increased fire danger.
The third-largest fire in recorded Colorado history kept expanding, chewing through 147 square miles near Fort Garland, about 205 miles southwest of Denver.
https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2018/07/04/western-u-s-wildfires-continue-flare-up/758677002/