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  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago witnessed a 139 percent increase in murder during July 2020 when compared to July 2019. ABC7 reported there were 105 murders in July 2020, up from “the 44 reported in July 2019.” Moreover, there were 406 “shooting incidents” in Chicago during the month of July 2020, an increase of 75 percent “from the 232 last July,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Over a longer span of time, murders were up 51 percent from January 1, 2020, through July 31, 2020, compared to murders for the same period of time in 2019, according to the Sun-Times. Lightfoot blamed Chicago mayhem and bloodshed on gun friendly states during a July 26, 2020, appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. According to The Hill, Lightfoot told CNN, “Our gun problem is related to the fact that we have too many illegal guns on our streets, 60 percent of which come from states outside of Illinois.” She added, “We are being inundated with guns from states that have virtually no gun control, no background checks, no ban on assault weapons — that is hurting cities like Chicago.” Lightfoot did not mention that the Chicago area already has an “assault weapons” ban via a Cook County ordinance. Nor did she mention background checks are a federal requirement, mandated for all retail gun sales in every state of the Union, whether that is Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, or California. The mayor also failed to noted that her state, Illinois, requires everyone to obtain a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card before being allowed to possess a gun, and the process for obtaining that card includes a background check. AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. 

  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 President Donald Trump criticized America’s top billionaires on Saturday for massively increasing their net worth during the coronavirus pandemic. “I actually agree with this,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Too much income disparity. Changes must be made, and soon!” The president shared a Business Insider video showing the net worth of wealthy CEOs like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whose net worth rose by an estimated $48 billion from March to June. The video lists billionaires such as Zoom founder Eric Yuan boosting his net worth of $2.5 billion, while former Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer’s net worth increased by $15.7 billion, Casino magnate Shelden Adelson’s increased by $5 billion, and Elon Musk’s increased by $17.2 billion. This is the first time the president has indicated that a growing wealth disparity was a problem in the United States that needed to be fixed. The nine-minute video focuses on how the wealthy typically receive big financial profits during times of economic crisis and experience big tax cuts and breaks and store their money in offshore accounts. I actually agree with this. Too much income disparity. Changes must be made, and soon! https://t.co/YZx6gPDTMb — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2020 The video also proposes forming a Pandemic Profiteering Oversight Committee, more regulations to keep billionaires from offshoring their profits, including an emergency ten percent millionaire income surtax, a wealth tax, a progressive estate tax, and dramatic federal spending on charities. 

  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 A 69-year-old Trump-supporting grandmother outed her grandson as the suspect who allegedly threw a makeshift bomb outside a Portland, Oregon, federal courthouse Tuesday. The New York Post reported that Karla Fox recognized the alleged bomber as her grandson, Gabriel “Rico” Agard-Berryhill. In the hours after the attack, social media users sifted through videos showing a slim man wearing an olive-colored vest with the word “ICONS” printed on it, throwing an item over the fence at the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse. Rioters threw a bomb at the front of the Portland federal courthouse. This wasn’t one of their usual firework explosives. #PortlandRiots #antifa pic.twitter.com/omCq0GtZMj — Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 28, 2020 Within seconds, there’s an explosion that covers the courthouse’s front door in flames. The suspect picks something up from the group and slips away from the camera’s view. Fox immediately recognized her grandson because she gifted him the vest. “I bought the vest for him after he found one online after getting hit with rubber bullets the night before at the protest,” Fox told the Post. (She even left a positive review on clothing site Hibbett: “I got this for my grandson who’s a protester downtown, he uses it every night and says it does the job.”) Agard-Berryhill told the Post via text message Thursday that he admitted misguided involvement, but did not outright say he was the bomber. “The device I’ve been accused of allegedly throwing was allegedly given to me by an unknown [protester] with full face coverings,” he wrote. “I was allegedly told that it was a strobe firework that wouldn’t damage the building or harm anyone around it.” Later that evening, Agard-Berryhill spoke with his probation officer and turned himself in. U.S. Marshals arrested him and booked him into the Multnomah County Detention Center. Authorities charged him with felony arson, and he faces at least five years behind bars if convicted. He was released without bail. The alleged bomb-throwing shocked Fox, a conservative who supports President Donald Trump and claimed that she did not know her grandson’s politics. Fox says her grandson told her last week that he was peacefully protesting and “protecting a girl.” “I believed all his stories,” Fox says. “He said he was just hanging out at Riot Ribs [an anarchist food co-op] and doing peaceful things.” Fox said her grandson is on probation for a felony conviction from when he was a minor. She said he spent two years at Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility in southern Oregon and spoke about changing his life for the better and getting a job at Amazon. 

  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago witnessed a 139 percent increase in murder during July 2020 when compared to July 2019. ABC7 reported there were 105 murders in July 2020, up from “the 44 reported in July 2019.” Moreover, there were 406 “shooting incidents” in Chicago during the month of July 2020, an increase of 75 percent “from the 232 last July,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Over a longer span of time, murders were up 51 percent from January 1, 2020, through July 31, 2020, compared to murders for the same period of time in 2019, according to the Sun-Times. Lightfoot blamed Chicago mayhem and bloodshed on gun friendly states during a July 26, 2020, appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. According to The Hill, Lightfoot told CNN, “Our gun problem is related to the fact that we have too many illegal guns on our streets, 60 percent of which come from states outside of Illinois.” She added, “We are being inundated with guns from states that have virtually no gun control, no background checks, no ban on assault weapons — that is hurting cities like Chicago.” Lightfoot did not mention that the Chicago area already has an “assault weapons” ban via a Cook County ordinance. Nor did she mention background checks are a federal requirement, mandated for all retail gun sales in every state of the Union, whether that is Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, or California. The mayor also failed to noted that her state, Illinois, requires everyone to obtain a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card before being allowed to possess a gun, and the process for obtaining that card includes a background check. AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. 

  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “WSJ at Large,” Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott stated that thanks to a partnership between state and federal authorities in Portland, Thursday night was the first time “in over two months that federal agents didn’t face a direct and immediate threat of being burnt alive inside that federal building.” Scott said that Thursday night “was the first time…in over two months that federal agents didn’t face a direct and immediate threat of being burnt alive inside that federal building. The reason for that was because the state stepped up and partnered with us and actually took away the ability for the anarchists and these violent individuals to attack the federal building and the courthouse at will from a park across the street from city property. That partnership together now has made that entire area significantly safer. Because the federal agents are doing their job, and the state is doing their job. And that partnership, when it’s together like that, works.” He also said, “[W]hen I say burn down, the fireworks that you’ve heard about being aimed at our personnel, those are commercial grade. Those were the equivalent of the fourth of July fireworks you see in your cities, that go hundreds of feet up in the air, aimed directly at our personnel.” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett 

  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 A 69-year-old Trump-supporting grandmother outed her grandson as the suspect who allegedly threw a makeshift bomb outside a Portland, Oregon, federal courthouse Tuesday. The New York Post reported that Karla Fox recognized the alleged bomber as her grandson, Gabriel “Rico” Agard-Berryhill. In the hours after the attack, social media users sifted through videos showing a slim man wearing an olive-colored vest with the word “ICONS” printed on it, throwing an item over the fence at the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse. Rioters threw a bomb at the front of the Portland federal courthouse. This wasn’t one of their usual firework explosives. #PortlandRiots #antifa pic.twitter.com/omCq0GtZMj — Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 28, 2020 Within seconds, there’s an explosion that covers the courthouse’s front door in flames. The suspect picks something up from the group and slips away from the camera’s view. Fox immediately recognized her grandson because she gifted him the vest. “I bought the vest for him after he found one online after getting hit with rubber bullets the night before at the protest,” Fox told the Post. (She even left a positive review on clothing site Hibbett: “I got this for my grandson who’s a protester downtown, he uses it every night and says it does the job.”) Agard-Berryhill told the Post via text message Thursday that he admitted misguided involvement, but did not outright say he was the bomber. “The device I’ve been accused of allegedly throwing was allegedly given to me by an unknown [protester] with full face coverings,” he wrote. “I was allegedly told that it was a strobe firework that wouldn’t damage the building or harm anyone around it.” Later that evening, Agard-Berryhill spoke with his probation officer and turned himself in. U.S. Marshals arrested him and booked him into the Multnomah County Detention Center. Authorities charged him with felony arson, and he faces at least five years behind bars if convicted. He was released without bail. The alleged bomb-throwing shocked Fox, a conservative who supports President Donald Trump and claimed that she did not know her grandson’s politics. Fox says her grandson told her last week that he was peacefully protesting and “protecting a girl.” “I believed all his stories,” Fox says. “He said he was just hanging out at Riot Ribs [an anarchist food co-op] and doing peaceful things.” Fox said her grandson is on probation for a felony conviction from when he was a minor. She said he spent two years at Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility in southern Oregon and spoke about changing his life for the better and getting a job at Amazon. 

  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 The work-from-home needs of employees due to COVID-19 could help drive big changes in how laptops and other devices are sold. Digital transformation and the work-from-home movement may not be the only big technology trends gaining strength due to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Also picking up traction in the business IT marketplace in the last six months is the Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) model of acquiring hardware without having to buy, configure, and manage it. In 2015, no major PC manufacturers offered a DaaS option to acquire hardware, according to a recent report from Accenture. But by 2019, that changed dramatically, with 65% of major PC makers offering DaaS options to their customers. To Kevin Dobbs, the leader of Accenture's Everything-as-a-Service practice, it's where PC makers and other hardware suppliers need to go if they want to keep up with business and consumer expectations and demands. With DaaS, vendors take laptops, desktop PCs, and other devices and preconfigure and customize them with productivity and security applications as well as value-added services to ready them for business or consumer customers. The devices aren't purchased outright by companies like in the past, but are paid for on a consumption model. SEE: VPN: Picking a provider and troubleshooting tips (free PDF) (TechRepublic) That may seem like a lease, but it's not a lease, Dobbs said. "They may look similar, but DaaS is less about the device and more about the services associated with the devices." The work-from-home movement due to the pandemic could be a big boost for DaaS adoption in the future, he said. Companies that scrambled to send workers home to do their jobs as the pandemic spawned shutdowns across the nation were often forced into a laptop-buying frenzy. That quickly revealed that it was easier to buy the machines fully loaded and configured and ready for workers to do their jobs from home, Dobbs said. For companies, it essentially streamlined the process of quickly enabling a large number of at-home workers that companies didn't have in the past. DaaS arrangements also include product support from vendors or partners as needed. "It gives an easy way to get help," Dobbs said. "They would rather buy things preconfigured with software and security. I think a lot of the customer buying pattern is moving in that direction." Benefits and challenges for vendors And while this can all be beneficial for users, the DaaS model also provides a mix of big benefits and real challenges for hardware vendors, Dobbs explained. First, because customers use the devices until they are done with them, the vendors get them back and can collect, refurbish, and resell them to new users up to four more times over the useful life of the devices, which maximizes returns on investments, according to Dobbs. "For vendors, it's a great option because rather than only selling a product one time, they can sell them up to five times," Dobbs said. "The benefit is that by keeping control of the devices and surrounding them with different kinds of services and capabilities each time you can give more to customers. In the hardware business, margins are thin, but here you sell it over and over. That's why we think this is an exciting trend." SEE: Mobile device computing policy (TechRepublic Premium) It's also something that can boost revenue for hardware vendors at a time when sales may be lower due to the growing popularity of business customers moving workloads to the cloud. When customers move to the cloud, hardware sales typically get lost in the transaction. "DaaS becomes a more interesting way for manufacturers and channel partners to head as they are moving into the next phase of their growth," he said. But the challenges are there as well. To enable DaaS, vendors require complicated supply chains to collect, refurbish, and redistribute all that gear. "That means that vendors need to take a very different approach to how they sell their goods," Dobbs said. "We're seeing more and more companies looking at that option." Creating and maintaining the needed supply chains to create a seamless experience for customers isn't easy, though. "At scale, it is difficult to do these things, when we're talking about millions of devices and being able to orchestrate them to make money for vendors," Dobbs said. On the flip side, companies that already have such supply chains will be able to drive more value from them. DaaS is all about the customer Ultimately, DaaS is gaining traction because business customers and consumers want to make things easier for themselves, Dobbs said. "In the end, the customers don't care about the device itself. They just want an outcome. If it breaks, they just want it replaced. They want service. All those things are valuable to customers." And that's where the flexibility and value of DaaS can solve problems for users, Dobbs said. "This is the way customers now want to get their devices. The business buyers are expecting the same level of service and experience in their work as they are in their consumer lives. Customers want to try before buying, pay as they go, and have more of a consumption-based model, where they get charged as they go for what they use." By using DaaS, customers potentially pay less up-front, but could spend more over time for the overall package of devices and integrated services and support. Cost-savings aren't usually why customers are attracted to DaaS in the first place, Dobbs said. For hardware vendors that aren't filling these demands in the future, it will be a challenging environment in the future, he said. "The opportunity today is to do this proactively," Dobbs said. "Customers want to buy it this way, so you are going to have to move this way, like it or not. COVID-19 is also highlighting the fact that more and more customers will be embracing this approach." Tech News You Can Use Newsletter We deliver the top business tech news stories about the companies, the people, and the products revolutionizing the planet. Delivered Daily Sign up today Also see 

  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “WSJ at Large,” Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott stated that thanks to a partnership between state and federal authorities in Portland, Thursday night was the first time “in over two months that federal agents didn’t face a direct and immediate threat of being burnt alive inside that federal building.” Scott said that Thursday night “was the first time…in over two months that federal agents didn’t face a direct and immediate threat of being burnt alive inside that federal building. The reason for that was because the state stepped up and partnered with us and actually took away the ability for the anarchists and these violent individuals to attack the federal building and the courthouse at will from a park across the street from city property. That partnership together now has made that entire area significantly safer. Because the federal agents are doing their job, and the state is doing their job. And that partnership, when it’s together like that, works.” He also said, “[W]hen I say burn down, the fireworks that you’ve heard about being aimed at our personnel, those are commercial grade. Those were the equivalent of the fourth of July fireworks you see in your cities, that go hundreds of feet up in the air, aimed directly at our personnel.” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett 

  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 Microsoft has provided more information on Dataflex, its new low-code platform for building apps and bots directly within Teams. Image: Microsoft Microsoft has provided new details on Dataflex, its new low-code/no-code platform for building and deploying apps and chatbots directly into Teams. Dataflex was announced at Microsoft's recent Inspire partner conference on July 21st. Built on the Common Data Service – now somewhat confusingly called Microsoft Dataflex Pro - the platform is designed to make it easy for users with little or no coding skills to build new capabilities into Teams using Microsoft Power Apps and Microsoft Power Virtual Agents. SEE: Microsoft Teams: A cheat sheet (free PDF) (TechRepublic) Many businesses have been looking to automate time-consuming manual processes since the coronavirus forced them to divert time and resources away from lengthy development processes. As such, low-code/no-code solutions have enjoyed a surge in popularity by allowing organisations to automate workflows quickly, and with minimal resource investment. As Microsoft explained in its original announcement, Dataflex aims to remove the hassle of back-end tech logistics for creating and deploying new business tools for its enterprise customers. Power Virtual Agents allow users to easily create chatbots using Microsoft's natural language processing and AI smarts, and then integrate these into workflows using Power Automate. Microsoft's Power BI is also included in Dataflex, offering users a unified visualisation hub and searchable repository for data across the organisation. Dataflex assigns access and security roles automatically, based on whether they are an Owner, Member or Guest, though these can be customised by administrators. Because Dataflex is integrated directly into Teams, users don't need to switch applications or connect to additional data sources in order to build and deploy new Teams apps. Instead, organisations can find, filter and sort relational data directly within Teams, and then create scenario specific, custom data tables based on the Common Data Model (CDM). Support for additional CDM-based tables is coming soon, Microsoft said. Image: Microsoft In Dataflex for Teams, data, apps, chatbots and workflows are stored within a single environment that supports backup, point-in-time-restore, and disaster recovery. This means that when a team is deleted, its associated environment is also deleted. Each Team environment features 2GB capacity, capable of storing approximately one million rows of data, according to Microsoft. In addition to building custom bots and applications that can be shared with other users and departments across the organisation, Dataflex also features a gallery of pre-made templates that can be tailored to a business' own requirements. Teams users can then automate workflows with these solutions using Power Automate. SEE: TechRepublic Premium editorial calendar: IT policies, checklists, toolkits, and research for download (TechRepublic Premium) Dataflex will be bundled for no additional charge with every Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscription that includes a Teams license, which will appear in public preview from August. "In Teams, people collaborate around documents in different ways – some you create yourself, some you create in collaboration with teammates, or others you acquire from trusted sources," said Marc Mercuri, Microsoft's principal product project manager for Dataflex. "Power Platform and Dataflex for Teams bring this same model to building and using apps, chatbots, flows, and data." Microsoft Weekly Newsletter Be your company's Microsoft insider by reading these Windows and Office tips, tricks, and cheat sheets. Delivered Mondays and Wednesdays Sign up today Also see 

  Published Date: 2020-08-02 

 Image copyright PA Media Image caption Mr Jenrick said parents would know that home-schooling is no substitute for the classroom Reopening schools in September is an "absolute priority" for the government and it will be safe, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has said. It comes after teaching unions called for clarity amid a rise in the number of coronavirus cases and the decision to pause lockdown easing in England. "We have to get children back to school in September," said Mr Jenrick. Schools are due to open in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to all pupils at the start of next term. They closed in March, except to the children of key workers, but some reopened to certain year groups before the summer holiday. However, unions have raised questions over the plans to reopen schools, after England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty warned the country is "near the limit" for opening up society. And earlier this weekend, two scientists advising the government said there may need to be trade-offs around lockdown easing - for example some restrictions may need to come back into force so that it is safe to allow pupils back into the classroom. Asked about the issue by the BBC, Mr Jenrick said: "We have to get children back to school in September. "It's so important for the future for our children and for our whole country that they have face to face contact with their teachers in the classroom "We're working very closely with headteachers and the teaching unions to make sure that all the steps necessary are put in place over the summer so that the children can go back in September and it is an absolute priority for the government." Image copyright Reuters Image caption Schools in England began reopening to some year groups in June He said he believes that schools "will be safe in September". "We published very detailed guidelines and of course we're going to keep working with headteachers over the course of August as they finalise their own plans as to how their schools can operate safely in accordance with the guidelines. "This is a really important issue for the country. Everyone who is a parent knows that however much work has been put into remote learning over the course of recent months it isn't a substitute for getting children back into the classroom." 'Be transparent' On Sunday, Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, told the Observer ministers will have to convince staff and parents that it is still safe to reopen schools next month. "The warning from the chief medical officer that a fine balance has to be struck in ensuring public health at this stage of the pandemic, and that the country may have reached the limits to the easing of lockdown, will no doubt prompt questions for many parents as well as for those working in schools," he said. Mr Roach warned that, if schools are to reopen safely, the government needed to give teachers clarification around the latest scientific advice "as well as sufficient time to review and, if necessary, adjust their reopening plans". The National Education Union also issued a statement, saying the government needs "to monitor the situation nationally and in each region" and "be transparent about what the picture means for schools". "It is clear, however, that [the] government needs a plan B in the event that restrictions have to be increased in or before September," said the union's deputy general secretary Avis Gilmore. Boris Johnson has previously pledged that both primary and secondary schools in England will return in September "with full attendance". Prof Graham Medley, a scientist advising the government, told the BBC on Saturday that pubs or "other activities" in England may need to close to allow schools to reopen next month. He said he believed most people "think that opening schools is a priority for the health and wellbeing of children and that when we do that we are going to reconnect lots of households". "And so actually, closing some of the other networks, some of the other activities may well be required to enable us to open schools," he added. "It might come down to a question of which do you trade-off against each other, and then that's a matter of prioritising. Do we think pubs are more important than schools?" A Department for Education spokesman said: "We have set out the controls schools should use, including cleaning and hygiene measures, to substantially reduce the risk of transmission of the virus when they open to all children from September." Mr Jenrick also dismissed newspaper reports that there were plans to introduce shielding for people above a certain age as "speculation". "You would expect the government to be considering all of the range of options that might be available," he told Times Radio. "That's not something that is being actively considered." On Friday, the PM said further easing of the lockdown would be delayed. Measures due to come in this weekend, including the reopening of casinos, bowling alleys, skating rinks and some close-contact services, as well as the return of indoor performances and pilots of large gatherings in sports venues and conference centres, have been postponed for at least a fortnight. Mr Johnson said on Friday he needed to "squeeze the brake pedal" on easing restrictions following a rise in coronavirus cases. Latest figures showed a further 74 deaths were reported in the UK on Saturday, taking the total number of people who have died after testing positive for the virus to 46,193. The latest government statistics also showed 771 new cases had been confirmed.