Divinity consultants are designing sacred rituals for corporations and their spiritually depleted employees.

Former President Barack Obama spoke to James, National Basketball Players Association president Chris Paul and a small group of players late Wednesday evening, advising them to play and utilize the opportunity to contextualize action they want in order to play, The Athletic has learned. James, Paul and others wanted to seek the guidance of the 44th President of the United States (2009-2017), and on the call broached forming a committee for player action that they want Obama involved in, sources told The Athletic. The call took place following a contentious players meeting in which Lakers and Clippers players voted to refuse to play the remainder of the season.

The national political conventions over the last two weeks set the battle lines for the election’s remaining weeks. Joe Biden is focusing on President Trump’s virus management, while the president is hammering a law-and-order message. ... Mr. Trump’s aides said he enjoyed the frustration and anger he caused by holding a political event on the South Lawn of the White House, shattering conventional norms and raising questions about ethics law violations. He relished the fact that no one could do anything to stop him, said the aides, who spoke anonymously to discuss internal conversations.

Chadwick Boseman, the man who brought Black Panther to life, has died.

President Donald Trump’s move to defer payroll taxes through year-end likely will face resistance from companies after IRS guidelines left employers on the hook to pay back the levy early next year. Trump directed the Treasury to allow the taxes to be deferred as a boost to a U.S. economy stalled by the coronavirus pandemic, saying it would give wage-earners more money to spend immediately. But it would hit workers with a bigger tax bill next year. The Internal Revenue Service said employers that signed on to the option have to pay the money back by April 2021, most likely by doubling withholding for payroll taxes. Employers “may make arrangements to otherwise collect the total applicable taxes from the employee,” if necessary, the IRS said. If companies continue withholding the 6.2% payroll, it would blunt any potential economic or political benefit Trump had hoped to reap before the November presidential election. Congress could vote to forgive the liabilities -- the only way the tax could be waived -- but that’s unlikely amid the campaign.

It started with an unexpected call last week from Lynne Patton, a longtime Trump associate who oversees federal housing programs in New York. Ms. Patton told a leader of a tenants’ group at the New York City Housing Authority, the nation’s largest, that she was interested in speaking with residents about conditions in the authority’s buildings, which have long been in poor repair. Four tenants soon assembled in front of a video camera and were interviewed for more than four hours by Ms. Patton herself. They were never told that their interviews would be edited into a two-minute video clip that would air on Thursday night at the Republican National Convention and be used to bash Mayor Bill de Blasio, three of the tenants said in interviews on Friday. “I am not a Trump supporter,” said one of the tenants, Claudia Perez. “I am not a supporter of his racist policies on immigration. I am a first-generation Honduran. It was my people he was sending back.” The episode represents another stark example of how President Trump has deployed government resources to further his political ambitions. Ms. Patton is head of the New York office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and under the Hatch Act is barred from using her government position to engage in political activities. Throughout the convention, Mr. Trump has shattered the traditional boundaries between government and politics, and the video was aired on a night when the campaign took over the South Lawn of the White House, the first time that a major political convention has occurred there. The public housing clip was the second instance of the Trump campaign’s misleading participants in an event involving the federal government that was filmed for the Republican National Convention. On Tuesday, the convention showed a video of five new American citizens being sworn in at a naturalization ceremony by Mr. Trump. Some of the five said they did not know that they were being filmed for a political event. Three of the four tenants in the public housing video were interviewed on Friday by The New York Times. All three said they opposed President Trump and were misled about the purpose of the video. In the video, the tenants raised concerns about conditions in the housing authority’s buildings, attacking Mr. de Blasio’s housing record. Ms. Perez, one of the tenants, said in an interview on Friday afternoon that she stood by her criticism of the authority but was furious about being tricked into appearing in the video. Ms. Perez said she had been called last week by another tenant leader, Carmen Quiñones, who said Ms. Patton was with her at the Frederick Douglass Houses in Manhattan and wanted to talk to residents about the housing authority’s performance. Only after the questioning ended were the four tenants told that the interview was for the Republican Party, Ms. Perez said. But she said she was never told that it was for the convention. Ms. Perez said she demanded to see the edited version of the clip, but no one ever showed it to her. She added that Ms. Quiñones called her minutes before the clip aired on Thursday night to say that it was about to be shown. During the pandemic, Ms. Perez and Ms. Quiñones have helped to provide hundreds of thousands of meals to residents who would not have had food otherwise. One of the vendors who provided the food, a farming company owned by Muslims, called an associate of Ms. Perez on Friday and asked why she appeared in a video supporting Mr. Trump, Ms. Perez said. Ms. Patton declined to be interviewed, saying that she was traveling. But she issued a statement denying that she misled the four tenants, saying that they knew that their interviews would be shown at the convention “to increase awareness of the inhumane conditions that Mayor de Blasio has allowed for far too long.” “Each participated regardless of political party because they recognized the importance of having a voice on the national stage and the undeniable improvements that have transpired under this administration,” Ms. Patton said. She said the video had been vetted and cleared for Hatch Act violations by the White House. Ms. Patton said that she had spoken with all four tenants on Friday and that they were upset with the way The Times was “twisting their words.” In a separate interview, Ms. Quiñones said she talked to Ms. Patton on Friday afternoon and was comfortable with how she was being portrayed by The Times. She said she was disappointed that her words were twisted to support President Trump. Ms. Perez and a third tenant, Manny Martinez, said they had not spoken with Ms. Patton on Friday and did not know what she was talking about. Explaining how the video came about, Ms. Quiñones confirmed that Ms. Patton had reached out to her about assembling tenants to talk about the authority. But Ms. Quiñones said she did not realize until the cameras started and the questions began that Ms. Patton had actually recruited the tenants for interviews for the party. Ms. Quiñones said she wished that she had been told in advance that the clip would be shown at the convention. She said she was a lifelong Democrat who plans to vote for Joseph R. Biden Jr. in November. She was interviewed on Friday as she marched in Washington at the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks rally, sponsored by another Trump target, the Rev. Al Sharpton. When asked whether she was concerned about being misled, Ms. Quiñones said, “It is what it is.” She added that she decided to use the opportunity to highlight what she said were extensive problems at the housing authority under Mr. de Blasio. “For me, this was not about party, but for us to make the national stage,” Ms. Quiñones said. “They were the only ones that offered. My own party didn’t offer.” Ms. Quiñones said Ms. Patton had been a strong advocate for the housing authority. She said she supports the Democratic Party except for one person, Mr. de Blasio, whom she blamed for what she said were worsening conditions at the Douglass Houses in Manhattan and across the housing authority, which has 400,000 tenants. The third tenant, Mr. Martinez, said he was asked to take part in the meeting with Ms. Patton with little notice, but took up the opportunity to air his concerns about public housing. “This was not an endorsement of Trump,” he said. Mr. de Blasio did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But on Thursday night, his press secretary, Bill Neidhardt, called the video a “cynical attempt to pit Black Americans against immigrants,” a reference to an assertion in the video that undocumented immigrants had been allowed to cut in line to get housing before American citizens. “It’s wrong,” Mr. Neidhardt wrote on Twitter. “After decades of disinvestment, Mayor de Blasio has made historic investments in NYCHA. But at least this much is true: The Mayor lives rent free in Trump’s head."

In a companywide meeting on Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that a militia page advocating for followers to bring weapons to an upcoming protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, remained on the platform because of “an operational mistake.” The page and an associated event inspired widespread criticism of the company after a 17-year-old suspect allegedly shot and killed two protesters Tuesday night. The event associated with the Kenosha Guard page, however, was flagged to Facebook at least 455 times after its creation, according to an internal report viewed by BuzzFeed News, and had been cleared by four moderators, all of whom deemed it “non-violating.” The page and event were eventually removed from the platform on Wednesday — several hours after the shooting.

Labor activists are targeted in a social media campaign as gig economy companies spend millions to prevent workers from becoming employees.

Most members of the state’s congressional delegation now say they support restoring voting rights to incarcerated people. Will Tuesday’s primaries elect more proponents?

Facebook says “small businesses will keep 100% of the revenue” on Android.

The city of El Alto isn’t just distinguished by its impressive altitude of over 13,000 feet above sea level or its self-governing status. This Bolivian municipality also sets itself apart with the distinctive architecture of Freddy Mamani Silvestre. The architect, who goes by Freddy Mamani professionally, got his start as a bricklayer and studied civil engineering in college. He completed his first building in this style in 2005 and has since created dozens more designs that incorporate circular windows, sharply angled rooflines and vibrant pink, green, and orange facades. The massive buildings seem to tower above their architectural neighbors, but they aren’t private mansions. Many of Mamani’s constructions are multi-use structures, filled with ground-floor rental stalls for vendors, a second floor party venue, and apartments on top. His buildings are nicknamed cholets, a portmaneau of chalet (a Swiss mountain house) and cholo (derogatory slang for indigenous person). Though many westerners draw comparisons to Las Vegas, Mamani clarifies that the shapes, colors, and patterns he uses are drawn from Bolivia’s pre-Columbian history. In particular, the aguayo, a bright woven cloth of the Aymara, an indigenous group that Mamani is a part of, inspires the architect’s designs. Mamani shared in an interview with The Guardian, “My designs are a modern expression of our culture,” he adds. “Since Evo Morales [the country’s first indigenous president] became president, things have changed a lot. We feel proud of being Aymaran.” Last fall, Mamani built a ballroom in Paris as the opening work in the Cartier Foundation‘s exhibition on Latin American art and architecture. You can get to know the architect in the Great Big Story video below. Photographer Peter Granser also published a book in 2016 about Mamani’s builds, which is available on the Edition Taube website. (via Quartz)

Following days of violence and civil unrest, Facebook employees wonder if their company is doing enough to stifle militia and QAnon groups stoking violence on the social network.

In Portsmouth, Virginia, cops have been systematically using their state power to tyrannize political enemies. ... The man who got the police to arrest Lucas-Burke has said that his decision to file charges had “nothing to do with race,” adamant that people play “the race card” (a term he used frequently in his HuffPost interview) “way too much.” But he does at least seem to understand what the police are and what they are for: The Portsmouth Police Department has been functioning like a political agency, clearing out anyone who dares challenge the accepted way of things. Kyle Rittenhouse, who seemingly deputized himself as an honorary cop mainly on the strength of his commitment to Blue Lives Matter memes, and then allegedly shot multiple people in the name of maintaining (a particular) order, had a similar understanding of the purpose and role of the police.

Alameda County’s plan to buy a historic building near Lake Merritt for use as a COVID-19 homeless shelter has fallen through.  In June, the Board of Supervisors approved a deal to purchase the old “Lake Merritt Lodge” property on Harrison Street with $23.3 million in emergency coronavirus funds, to house around 90 people with medical risks. Advocates for Oakland’s unhoused residents applauded the decision, praising the county for taking advantage of state funding to buy a building that could become permanent supportive housing after the pandemic rather than using up the funds on more temporary shelters. The county and current owner of the property each confirmed to The Oaklandside that the deal is no longer in the works, and each blamed the other for its collapse.

Tech oracle Jaron Lanier saw the evils of social media platforms before anyone else. Now he talks about whether Twitter activism really works, how to fix Facebook, and why he won't be joining Silicon Valley's overlords in New Zealand.

A few months into the pandemic, I started contacting spiritual mediums.

A professor embarks on a six-month binge of celebrity-led online courses.

"My house is a total loss in Hurricane Laura," KPLC-TV meteorologist Ben Terry said, showing heartbreaking pictures.

RCMP in Saskatchewan are reviewing the behaviour of an officer captured on video yelling, swearing and carrying an axe into a home where a man had harmed himself. Jonas Hardlotte lives in Stanley Mission, about 450 kilometres north of Saskatoon, and posted the one-minute video to Facebook. The 33-year-old Cree man says he was experiencing depression and was speaking to his mother-in-law, who called the local clinic to check on him.

In 2016, Democrats put their chips on winning over conservative voters disgusted with Donald Trump and ended up with their worst electoral college margin since the days of Michael Dukakis. For some reason, they seem intent on trying the same strategy again.