Outside the Outbreak: Trump rally highlights vulnerabilities, noose found in Black NASCAR driver’s garage

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NASCAR: Noose found in Bubba Wallace’s garage at Alabama race

Bubba Wallace stands for the national anthem before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, June 14, 2020, in Homestead, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

NASCAR has launched an investigation after a noose was found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver in the elite Cup Series who just two weeks ago successfully pushed the stock car series to ban the Confederate flag at its venues.

NASCAR said the noose was found on Sunday afternoon and vowed to do everything possible to find who was responsible and “eliminate them from the sport.”

“As my mother told me today, ‘They are just trying to scare you,’” Wallace said on Twitter. “This will not break me, I will not give in nor will I back down. I will continue to proudly stand for what I believe in.”

Trump rally highlights vulnerabilities heading into election

President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up to the crowd at the BOK Center after his first re-election rally in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, June 20, 2020. (Stephen Pingry/Tulsa World via AP)

President Donald Trump’s rally in Tusla, Oklahoma, highlighted growing vulnerabilities and crystallized a divisive reelection message that largely ignores broad swaths of voters — independents, suburban women and people of color — who could play a crucial role in choosing Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Trump’s campaign boasted millions of people had sought tickets for the event, but the city fire marshal’s office reported a crowd of just less than 6,200 in the 19,000-seat BOK Center, and at least six staff members who helped set up the event tested positive for the coronavirus. The vast majority of the attendees, including Trump, did not wear face masks as recommended by the Trump administration’s health experts.

Court rejects Trump bid to end young immigrants’ protections

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient Roberto Martinez, left, celebrates in front of the Supreme Court after the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for young immigrants, Thursday, June 18, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The Supreme Court on June 18 rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants. Immigrants who are part of the 8-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program will retain their protection from deportation and their authorization to work in the United States.

The court ruled the way Trump tried to end the program was illegal, meaning Trump can try again to axe the program. But immigration experts say DACA will almost certainly be safe at least through the November election.

The ruling was the second landmark ruling that contradicted the Trump administration after the court ruled that it’s illegal to fire people because they’re gay or transgender.

Mission accomplished: Malala gets Oxford degree

FILE – In this Wednesday, May 29, 2019 file photo, Malala Yousafzai is interviewed ahead of the Cricket World Cup opening party along The Mall in London. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl once shot by the Taliban for daring to want an education, has completed her degree at Oxford University. The Nobel Peace Prize winner posted images on Twitter on Friday, June 19 of her celebration upon completing a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file)

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot by the Taliban for daring to want an education, has completed her degree at Oxford University.

The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner, now 22, posted images on Twitter of her celebration early Friday upon completing a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. The human rights campaigner is covered in confetti in one image and surrounded by her family in another.

“Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford,’’ she tweeted. “I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep.”

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