Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Half of US voters believe Trump is racist after ‘go back’ comments, poll finds

Half of US voters believe Trump is racist after ‘go back’ comments, poll findsAround half of American voters believe Donald Trump is racist despite the US president saying he is the "least racist person in the world", according to a new poll. The survey was conducted by Quinnipiac University several days after Mr Trump said a group of four congresswomen of colour should "go back" to the countries they came from, even though all four are US citizens. The survey period, from 25-28 July, also included the day that Mr Trump launched a new attack on black congressman Elijah Cummings.He called Mr Cummings “a brutal bully” and described his Baltimore district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess”. The poll results come as Democrats seeking the party’s nomination for president enter a second round of debates. Nearly all of the 2020 candidates have roundly condemned Mr Trump’s remarks as racist and divisive.The poll found that 51 per cent of voters think Mr Trump is racist while 45 per cent do not.When separated by party, 86 per cent of Democratic voters classified Mr Trump as racist while 91 per cent of Republicans said he was not.About 88 per cent of those who said Mr Trump was racist disapprove of the job he is doing as president, while 94 per cent of those who said he was not racist approve of his performance.Other polls conducted by USA Today/Ipsos, The Economist/YouGov and Fox News in July have shown that between half and two-thirds of Americans believe that telling someone to “go back” is a racist statement and that Mr Trump’s tweets “cross the line”.The US president also attacked civil rights leader Reverand Al Sharpton earlier this week. The president denounced Mr Sharpton on Twitter as “a con man” who “Hates Whites & Cops” and doubled down on his attacks against Mr Cummings.Mr Trump also claimed he is the “least racist person in the world” following his comments attacking politicians of colour and civil rights figures.The Quinnipac poll found that 41 per cent of survey respondents believe Mr Trump’s immigration policies are motivated by “racist beliefs”, compared with 49 per cent who ascribed them to “a sincere interest in controlling our borders”. New York Times




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Health care and CNN's rules are among the winners and losers of Tuesday's Democratic debate

Health care and CNN's rules are among the winners and losers of Tuesday's Democratic debateThe bold progressives -- Sens. Sanders and Warren -- held their own. There was lots of talk about health care. CNN's ground rules seemed to get in the way. And what about Marianne Williamson?




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'You're wrong': Sanders, Warren open debate defending health care plan

'You're wrong': Sanders, Warren open debate defending health care planThe two progressives joined forces Tuesday night against more moderate candidates — and the moderators.




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Dubai ruler's wife seeks UK forced marriage protection order for children

Dubai ruler's wife seeks UK forced marriage protection order for childrenThe estranged wife of the ruler of Dubai has applied for a UK forced marriage protection order relating to their children, a London court heard Tuesday. Princess Haya, 45, a wife of 70-year-old United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, has applied for the order, as well as for wardship of their children, and a non-molestation order relating to herself, the High Court heard.




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Here are all the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who have qualified for the September primary debates

Here are all the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who have qualified for the September primary debatesThe next round of debates have much more strict criteria for candidates looking to secure a spot on stage. As a result, the field could thin out fast.




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Muslim Virginia lawmaker heckles Trump at Jamestown speech

Muslim Virginia lawmaker heckles Trump at Jamestown speechA heckler who interrupted a speech by President Donald Trump during Tuesday's commemoration of 400 years of American democracy is a new Muslim lawmaker from Virginia angered by the president's race-related rhetoric. After Samirah stood and held up his signs, he was led out of a tent where Trump was speaking at a museum near the site of the original Jamestown colony.




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What you need to know about Capital One data breach affecting more than 100 million customers

What you need to know about Capital One data breach affecting more than 100 million customersConsumers find themselves confronted with another data breach, this time involving Capital One. Here's what you need to know to protect yourself.




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Relatives gather to identify 57 victims killed Brazil prison riot

Relatives gather to identify 57 victims killed Brazil prison riotDozens of family members of inmates killed by other detainees during a prison riot in the north of Brazil have gathered outside the local forensic institute, waiting to identify their loved ones




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Sanctions-hit Iran to cut zeros and rename plunging currency

Sanctions-hit Iran to cut zeros and rename plunging currencyThe government in sanctions-hit Iran on Wednesday approved a plan to remove zeros from the rial and rename the currency -- something its people have long been doing to simplify transactions. "The cabinet today agreed on a bill to eliminate four zeros from the currency and that 'toman' will be our national currency," government spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters in Tehran. The value of the Iranian rial has hit low after record low since last year.




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5 key takeaways from the Democratic debate in Detroit

5 key takeaways from the Democratic debate in DetroitAn alliance from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson shining and Steve Bullock stumbling late highlighted the first of two Democratic debates in Michigan.




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Inmates behind Brazil deadly prison riot transferred: official

Inmates behind Brazil deadly prison riot transferred: officialForty-six inmates involved in one of Brazil's deadliest prison riots were being transferred to other jails Tuesday, an official said. At least 57 people were killed on Monday when fighting broke out between rival drug gang factions in the Altamira Regional Recovery Centre in the northern state of Para. Sixteen were decapitated in the hours-long battle, but most died in a fire that engulfed part of the overcrowded facility that used converted shipping containers to house some of the inmates.




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Canada police shift manhunt for teen slaying suspects

Canada police shift manhunt for teen slaying suspectsCanadian police said Tuesday they have pulled out of a remote northern town after an intensive search turned up no sign of two fugitive teenagers suspected of killing three people — a college professor, a North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police used dogs and drones, helicopters, boats and even a military Hercules aircraft to scour the area around York Landing, Manitoba, but were unable to confirm a possible sighting of the two men reported by members of a neighborhood watch group. Nineteen-year-old McLeod and 18-year-old Schmegelsky have been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Leonard Dyck, a University of British Columbia professor whose body was found last week in British Columbia.




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Italy: Teen's father says son didn't know friend had knife

Italy: Teen's father says son didn't know friend had knifeFabrizio Natale issued a statement through a lawyer after visiting his son, Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth at a Rome prison, a meeting Natale described as "very tough for both" of them. Prosecutors say Elder has confessed to knifing Cerciello Rega, 35, who was stabbed 11 times and died at a hospital.




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Fox News Proves Pete Buttigieg Right That All Democrats Will Be Called Socialists

Fox News Proves Pete Buttigieg Right That All Democrats Will Be Called SocialistsREUTERSDuring Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential primary debate, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg declared that it is time for Democrats to “stop worrying about what the Republicans will say” because no matter what agenda they embrace, “they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists.”Following the debate, a number of conservatives and Republicans on Fox airwaves have already gone out of their way to prove the mayor right.Discussing the debate Tuesday evening on The Ingraham Angle, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani suggested that former Vice President Joe Biden—who is participating in Wednesday’s debate— may have gotten a boost from the debate before, of course, painting the Democratic field as socialist.“I think Biden probably gains tonight if he can have a decent performance tomorrow night,” he told host Laura Ingraham. “He is the one that naturally people would think of as a moderate, but Biden has been running to pretend that he can out-socialist all of them.”The following hour, Fox News anchor Shannon Bream welcomed Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to weigh in on the debate. It didn’t take long for the RNC head to invoke socialism.“What you saw from the Democrats tonight is the total socialist plan, takeover of all of our health care with this proposal from Medicare for All,” she groused. “They didn’t know how to pay for it. They were dishonest about the fact that it was would raise taxes on every single American.”The following morning, meanwhile, Fox Business Network anchor Stuart Varney kicked things off on Varney and Co. by mockingly brushing off the notion that there were any centrist candidates on the stage the night before.“Now, the political story of the day, very obviously, the debates,” he declared. “The socialists, Sens. Warren and Sanders, emerged as the clear front-runners, at least for last night. So-called moderates, Klobuchar, Mayor Pete, Delaney, Bullock and Ryan, had very little impact. Beto all but disappeared. Last night, socialism rules!”Later on in the program, Fox News contributor Doug Schoen agreed with Varney that the party is “moving hard left and socialists rule the day,” adding that self-described Democrats like himself traditionally “don’t share socialist principles” and he can’t support Sanders, Warren or “their ilk.”The most glaring example, however, was a Wednesday morning interview with Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) during Fox News’ America’s Newsroom.Speaking with anchor Bill Hemmer, Kennedy fully rejected any notion that Tuesday’s debate was between progressives and moderates before fully proving Buttigieg’s prophecy correct.“I would remind you that the lesser of two socialists is still a socialist,” the Republican senator exclaimed. “And what I heard last night even from the so-called less liberal candidates—I’m not impugning their integrity—even from the less liberal candidates, I heard a job-killing, soul-crushing socialist agenda.”He added: “The only thing missing was the Cuban national anthem.”Hemmer, meanwhile, ended the brief segment by joking with the Republican lawmaker: “I don’t know how it played in Havana,” he said with a smile. “But I appreciate you coming back today.”There was one die-hard Fox News viewer who was thrilled over Kennedy’s on-air remarks, making sure to amplify them immediately.“‘The lesser of two Socialists is still a Socialist!’ Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana,” President Trump tweeted minutes after Kennedy’s appearance.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.




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Trump renews attack on black congressman Elijah Cummings and says he should ‘investigate himself’

Trump renews attack on black congressman Elijah Cummings and says he should ‘investigate himself’Donald Trump has attacked a black US congressman about the city of Baltimore for the second time in less than a week.Elijah Cummings, whose congressional district covers approximately half of the Maryland city, should use his role as House Oversight Committee chairman to “investigate himself”, the US president claimed. Billions of dollars sent to tackle crime and boost Baltimore’s economy had been “stolen or wasted”, Mr Trump tweeted. He wrote that the city’s “numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy.”He added: “Billions of dollars have been pumped in over the years, but to no avail. The money was stolen or wasted. Ask Elijah Cummings where it went. He should investigate himself with his Oversight Committee!”Mr Trump was criticised over the weekend for saying the congressman’s majority-black district in the Baltimore area was a “rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live”.But when he was accused of race-baiting, the president insisted there was nothing racist about his comments.Instead, he accused Mr Cummings of racism.“If racist Elijah Cummings would focus more of his energy on helping the good people of his district, and Baltimore itself, perhaps progress could be made in fixing the mess that he has helped to create over many years of incompetent leadership,” he tweeted. He added: “His radical ‘oversight’ is a joke!”The remarks followed a weekend of attacks against Mr Cummings, who is leading number of congressional investigations into Mr Trump and his administration.Mr Trump claimed that the congressman’s district, which includes Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Social Security Administration and the national headquarters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is “considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States”.He later accused rival Democrats of trying to “play the race card”.He tweeted: “There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know, that Elijah Cummings has done a terrible job for the people of his district, and of Baltimore itself.“Dems always play the race card when they are unable to win with facts. Shame!”Mr Trump has been repeatedly accused of racism in recent weeks after he attacked four Democratic congresswomen of colour known as “the squad”. He said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan should leave the US “right now”. He added that if they “hate our country” they can go back to their “broken and crime-infested” countries.All four Democrats are American citizens and only Ms Omar, who arrived in the US from Somalia at the age of seven, was not born in the US. He has also repeatedly attacked Mr Cummings. Earlier this week, he tweeted: “If the Democrats are going to defend the Radical Left ‘Squad’ and King Elijah’s Baltimore Fail, it will be a long road to 2020.”




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U.S. judge tosses Democratic Party lawsuit against Trump campaign, Russia over election

U.S. judge tosses Democratic Party lawsuit against Trump campaign, Russia over electionU.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan said he could not hear the claims against Russia, which were the focus of the case, because of a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity that shields foreign governments from litigation in the United States.




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'We're in pain': Family remembers Keyla Salazar, teen killed in Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting

'We're in pain': Family remembers Keyla Salazar, teen killed in Gilroy Garlic Festival shootingFamily and friends held a vigil for Keyla Salazar Tuesday evening, lamenting how a mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival ended her life at 13.




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The 2 Canadian teen fugitives were searched at an alcohol checkpoint the day they were charged with murder, but authorities let them go

The 2 Canadian teen fugitives were searched at an alcohol checkpoint the day they were charged with murder, but authorities let them goTataskweyak Cree Nation checkpoint guards stopped the pair as they entered an alcohol free county, but let them pass after no contraband was found.




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Marianne Williamson explains the need for slavery reparations: 'A debt that is owed'

Marianne Williamson explains the need for slavery reparations: 'A debt that is owed'The self-help author helped herself Tuesday with a stirring answer on the question of slavery reparations.




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Israel approves hundreds of Palestinian homes in West Bank amid reports of US peace plan rollout

Israel approves hundreds of Palestinian homes in West Bank amid reports of US peace plan rolloutIsrael has made an unusual move to approve hundreds of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank amid reports the US is preparing to roll out its long-awaited peace plan.  Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, granted permits for 700 Palestinian houses but tried to appease his Right-wing base by also approving 6,000 housing units for Jewish settlers.   Israel rarely grants building permits to Palestinians and the move was seen as a potential concession to the White House, which is trying to convince Palestinians and Arab states to back its peace initiative.   Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law and top aide on Israeli-Palestinian issues, is expected in Jerusalem this week to discuss the plan with Mr Netanyahu.   The plan remains secret but Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Mr Trump intends to unveil it at a summit with Arab leaders at Camp David in the coming weeks. A White House official denied that planning for a summit was underway and said Mr Kushner’s team would report back after their trip to Israeli and Arab states before deciding their next move. “No summit has currently been planned,” the official said.  The US unveiled the less controversial economic side of the plan at a conference in Bahrain in June but has not given a timeline for releasing the political side of the plan.  Mr Trump enjoys the pageantry of high-profile international meetings and Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, has often been the site of peace talks between Israel and its neighbours. Expectations for Mr Trump’s peace effort are low. The Palestinians have preemptively rejected the plan, arguing that Mr Trump is heavily biased towards Israel and is not an honest broker.   David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, signaled that the White House opposed the idea of an independent Palestinian state, which has long been a demand of both Palestinians and America’s Arab allies.     Mr Friedman instead endorsed Mr Netanyahu’s position that the Palestinians can be granted autonomy but not a state of their own.   “We believe in Palestinian autonomy,” he told CNN. ”We believe that autonomy should be extended up until the point where it interferes with Israeli security."




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Follow the law, get pulled over: Why a police plan to 'ticket' drivers backfired in Arizona

Follow the law, get pulled over: Why a police plan to 'ticket' drivers backfired in ArizonaTempe Police Department started a "Positive Ticketing Campaign" initiative to hand out Circle K drink coupons for following traffic laws.




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House Dems Near 50 Percent Support for Impeachment Inquiry

House Dems Near 50 Percent Support for Impeachment InquiryA group of five Democratic representatives called on leadership to begin an impeachment inquiry against President Trump Tuesday night, bringing the total number of House Democrats in support of impeachment to 116, just two votes short of reaching the 50 percent threshold.Democratic Representatives Jennifer Wexton of Virginia, Grace Meng and Eliot Engel of New York, Jason Crow of Wisconsin, and Judy Chu of California joined a growing cohort of House Democrats clamoring for an impeachment inquiry in the face of a reluctant leadership wary of the move's potential electoral consequences for the more moderate members of their caucus.Engel, a moderate member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, argued that former special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony last week “provided ample evidence that the president committed obstruction of justice.”“The president abused the power of his office in an effort to stymie a legitimate investigation into his campaign’s involvement with Russia,” Engel said.Meng, meanwhile, struck a more cautious tone, presenting the requested impeachment inquiry as an opportunity to “uncover the truth, and to obtain critical supporting evidence like the grand jury materials and witness testimonies.”Pelosi was unmoved on the question of impeachment following Mueller's testimony, telling reporters she still preferred to continue the many ongoing oversight investigations into the president, and allow the pending legal challenges against the administration to be resolved, before opening an impeachment inquiry.Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler, who has reportedly privately pressured Pelosi to begin impeachment proceedings, conceded that Trump “richly deserves impeachment” following Mueller's testimony, but questioned whether it was politically pragmatic.“But that’s not the question,” he told reporters. “The question is, can we develop enough evidence to put before the American people?”The mounting support for impeachment comes as the first ads, produced by the liberal advocacy group Need to Impeach and featuring Mueller's testimony to make the case for impeachment, aired across the country.“As much as this president and his administration attempt to cover up the facts, with this ad we are ensuring that Americans hear the facts directly from Mueller,” Nathaly Arriola, executive director of Need to Impeach, said in a Tuesday statement.




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Mom of slain Navajo girl urges tribes to use Amber Alerts

Mom of slain Navajo girl urges tribes to use Amber AlertsThe mother of a Navajo girl who was kidnapped and killed in 2016 urged tribal officials and children's advocates Tuesday to take advantage of tools and funding under a law that expands access to the nation's Amber Alert system. Pamela Foster spoke during a training at Isleta Pueblo, south of Albuquerque, for tribes seeking to implement the alert system. Despite a 2007 pilot project, it was not in place on the Navajo Nation when her daughter Ashlynne Mike was abducted near Shiprock, a town in northeast New Mexico.




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Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Death toll in Brazil prison massacre rises to 57 with over a dozen decapitated

Death toll in Brazil prison massacre rises to 57 with over a dozen decapitatedSAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A bloody clash between two prison gangs on Monday left at least 57 inmates dead with 16 of them decapitated, authorities in the state of Para said, the latest deadly clash as Brazil's government struggles to control the country's overcrowded jails. Prisoners belonging to the Comando Classe A gang set fire to a cell containing inmates from the rival Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, gang, Para's state government said in a statement. "It was a targeted act," state prison director Jarbas Vasconcelos said in the statement, adding there was no prior intelligence that suggested an attack would take place.




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Jared Kushner owns Baltimore apartments ‘infested’ with rodents, mould and maggots

Jared Kushner owns Baltimore apartments ‘infested’ with rodents, mould and maggotsDonald Trump characterised Elijah Cummings’ Baltimore-based congressional district as a “rodent infested mess” where “no human” would want to live, in a now-viral tweetstorm on Saturday.His criticism rang with a particular irony in Baltimore County, where the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner owns more than a dozen apartment complexes that have been cited with hundreds of code violations and, critics say, provide sub-standard housing to lower income tenants.In an interview on Saturday, Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski Jr condemned Mr Trump’s comments as “an attack on basic decency”.“It is certainly ironic that the president’s own son-in-law was complicit in contributing to some of the neglect that the president purports to be so concerned about,” Mr Olszewski, a Democrat, added.Kushner Companies, which started operating in Maryland in 2013, has owned almost 9,000 rental units across 17 complexes, many of them in Baltimore County, the Baltimore Sun reported earlier this year.The properties generate at least $90m (£72m) in revenue annually. Mr Kushner stepped down as CEO of the company in 2017, when he became a senior White House advisor.A company spokesperson did not address questions on Sunday about whether the group agreed with Mr Trump’s characterisation of the area, but wrote: “Kushner Companies is proud to own thousands of apartments in the Baltimore area.”In 2017, Baltimore County officials revealed that apartments owned by Kushner Cos were responsible for more than 200 code violations, all accrued in the span of the calendar year.Repairs were made only after the county threatened fines, local officials said, and even after warnings, violations on nine properties were not addressed, resulting in monetary sanctions.In an investigation by the New York Times and Pro Publica published earlier that year, tenants of Kushner Cos properties reported mouse infestations, mould problems and maggots.A private investigator who looked into Mr Kusher’s property management company, Westminster Management, described them as “slumlords”.Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Kushner Cos, asserted at the time that the group was in compliance with all state and local laws.Then-Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said that was “a stretch of truth”.“We expect all landlords to comply with the code requirements that protect the health and safety of their tenants, even if the landlord’s father-in-law is president of the United States,” added Mr Kamenetz, who died in 2018.Shannon Darrow, a programme manager at the tenant advocacy group Fair Housing Action Centre of Maryland, said on Sunday that she was “appalled” by Mr Trump’s comments about Mr Cummings’s district, which includes about half of Baltimore City, and most of the majority black sections of Baltimore County.She added that she found Mr Trump’s attacks ironic given the legacy of Mr Kushner’s properties in the district.“Basically, [Mr Kushner] has been creating a race to the bottom in terms of poorly maintained properties,” she said. “He’s been very, very deeply implicated.”In the past two years, Kushner Cos and its affiliated entities have been sued multiple times by Baltimore-area residents who allege that the company has charged them excessive fees and used the threat of eviction to pressure them into paying up.From 2013 to 2017, corporate entities associated with Kushner Cos’ apartments requested the civil arrest of 105 former tenants – the highest number among all property managers in Maryland during that period, the Baltimore Sun reported.“It’s been our recent experience that working families have been preyed on at the benefit of Mr Kushner and his company,” Mr Olszewski said.A group of tenants recently attempted to file a class-action lawsuit alleging unlawful rental practices by the company. But their request was denied by a Baltimore Circuit Court judge.Washington Post




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Gang database made up mostly of young black, Latino men

Gang database made up mostly of young black, Latino menBoston police are tracking nearly 5,000 people — almost all of them young black and Latino men — through a secretive gang database, newly released data from the department shows. Black people comprise about 25% of all Boston residents, Latinos about 20% and white people more than 50%. The racial disparity is "stark and troublesome," said Adriana Lafaille, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which, along with other civil rights groups, sued the department in state court in November to shed light into who is listed on the database and how the information is used.




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Iran says US rejected offer as 'not seeking dialogue'

Iran says US rejected offer as 'not seeking dialogue'Iran said on Monday the US had rejected an offer from Tehran for more robust nuclear inspections in exchange for lifting sanctions because Washington is "not seeking dialogue". Under the 2015 nuclear deal agreed to by Tehran, Iran must ratify a document, known as the additional protocol, prescribing more intrusive inspections of its nuclear programme eight years after the deal was adopted. "If the US is really seeking an agreement... Iran can make the additional protocol into law (in 2019) and (the US) at the same time bring a plan to the Congress and lift all illegal sanctions," said foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi.




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Russia says U.S. may be aiming to quit nuclear test ban treaty

Russia says U.S. may be aiming to quit nuclear test ban treatyThe United States may be planning to blame Russian non-compliance as a pretext to pull out of the Comprehensive nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a Russian diplomat told the Conference on Disarmament, the world's main arms talks forum, on Tuesday. "It would appear that through propaganda around false claims about Russia’s compliance there are attempts to prepare international opinion for a U.S. exit from the CTBT and then to blame Russia again for everything," the Russian diplomat said.




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The Latest: Relative identifies 3 of 5 killed in Wisconsin

The Latest: Relative identifies 3 of 5 killed in WisconsinThe father of two of five people found dead in two houses in northwestern Wisconsin has identified two sons and a grandson as among the dead. Authorities say a man shot and killed four people and wounded two others wounded at a home in Lake Hallie on Sunday night and a home in the town of Lafayette on Monday. Ritchie German Sr. of North Prairie, Wisconsin, tells the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul that adult sons Ritchie German Jr. and Douglas German were among the dead, along with Douglas' 8-year-old son, Calvin German.




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Photos of the 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera Cabriolet

Photos of the 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera Cabriolet

The cheapest version of the 992-gen 911 costs $98,750 and has 379 horsepower.

From Car and Driver




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Democratic Debate Warning: Former Obama Chief of Staff Says to Avoid 1 Thing

Democratic Debate Warning: Former Obama Chief of Staff Says to Avoid 1 ThingFormer Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel warned Democratic presidential contenders Monday not to “win the nomination in a way that forecloses a path to victory in the general election.”Emanuel, former President Barack Obama’s ex-chief of staff, criticized the candidates’ performances in the first round of Democratic debates in Miami in June.“There’s a reason [President Donald] Trump gleefully tweeted ‘That’s the end of that race!'” Emanuel wrote in a Medium post Monday.“Too often, you succumbed to chasing plaudits on Twitter, which closed the door on swing voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. If you win the nomination in a way that forecloses a path to victory in the general election, we will lose, and your name will go down in infamy,” he continued.Emanuel’s criticism comes as former Vice President Joe Biden fends off attacks from people even farther to the left accusing him of being weak on civil rights and too tough on crime in the past. But the former mayor warned that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is being unrealistic in its proposals.




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Slain gangster John Dillinger's body to be exhumed from Crown Hill Cemetery in Indiana

Slain gangster John Dillinger's body to be exhumed from Crown Hill Cemetery in IndianaNo reason was given for the exhumation. But there have been theories that it was not Dillinger who was killed outside a theater, but rather a double.




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Trump 'rodent' tweets ring true at Kushner-owned apartments

Trump 'rodent' tweets ring true at Kushner-owned apartmentsDavon Jones doesn't have to look far to see the irony in President Donald Trump's tweets that Baltimore is a "rat and rodent infested mess." His apartment owned by the president's son-in-law has been invaded by mice since he moved in a year ago. Jared Kushner's family real estate firm owns thousands of apartments and townhomes in the Baltimore area, and some have been criticized for the same kind of disrepair and neglect that the president has accused local leaders of failing to address. James says he sees a massive contradiction in Trump's much-publicized tweets laying the blame for Baltimore's poverty, crime and rodent problems on frequent antagonist Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings.




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Inmates behind Brazil deadly prison riot transferred: official

Inmates behind Brazil deadly prison riot transferred: officialForty-six inmates involved in one of Brazil's deadliest prison riots were being transferred to other jails Tuesday, an official said. At least 57 people were killed on Monday when fighting broke out between rival drug gang factions in the Altamira Regional Recovery Centre in the northern state of Para. Sixteen were decapitated in the hours-long battle, but most died in a fire that engulfed part of the overcrowded facility that used converted shipping containers to house some of the inmates.




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How to Stop Iran’s Maritime Misadventures

How to Stop Iran’s Maritime Misadventures(Bloomberg Opinion) -- European nations, alarmed by Iran’s capture of a British oil tanker, are mounting a response to protect their commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf. The Royal Navy has started to escort British ships, and a plan for a European naval mission has been endorsed by Denmark, France and Italy.It’s a promising start. But effectively curbing Iran’s misbehavior and safeguarding ships in the region will require a more ambitious —and truly international — effort. Most important, it needs to involve the U.S. Navy.The Europeans are wary of combining their fleets with a nearby American operation for fear of being identified with President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. France’s foreign minister says a separate effort is needed to reduce tensions and “create the conditions for inclusive regional talks on maritime security.”This is both naïve and shortsighted. A disjointed naval effort increases the likelihood of accidents and miscalculations. It might leave open gaps that could be exploited by the marauding speedboats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. And it creates unnecessary quandaries for ship captains: If, say, an American tanker with British nationals aboard were attacked while under U.S. Navy protection, would the HMS Duncan not respond to a call for assistance, for fear its intentions might be misconstrued by the Iranian regime?QuicktakeThe World’s Oil FlashpointFar better to present a united front. By fully joining their resources, the Americans and Europeans would be better able to police sea lanes and respond to provocations. In fact, they should be working together to recruit other countries — India, for instance — into a unified coalition, akin to the multinational task force formed to counter Somali pirates a decade ago. That effort, first headed by the U.S., drastically reduced attacks, helped strengthen local navies and coast guards, and safeguarded commercial traffic and humanitarian missions.Mounting such a response in the Gulf may sound politically difficult. But Europe should remember that the capture of the British ship, the Stena Impero, had essentially nothing to do with the nuclear deal: It was retaliation for the British Navy’s seizure of a vessel carrying Iranian crude to Syria, in contravention of European Union sanctions. Iran should’ve contested the seizure through legal processes. Instead, it’s holding the British ship hostage and demanding as ransom the release of its own tanker — and the freedom to keep sending oil to Syria, in support of the dictator Bashar al-Assad.It’s yet another reminder of how Iran’s misconduct threatens the entire region, and part of a disturbing pattern. In recent weeks, the regime has attacked ships and oil installations, shot down an American drone, restarted its uranium enrichment program, and even test-fired a ballistic missile, all while refusing good-faith efforts at mediation. It’s lashing out in the hopes that it can intimidate the world into doing what it wants.The U.S. and Europe shouldn’t give in to this kind of aggression. They should instead be united in opposing it. The waters of the Persian Gulf would be a good place to start.—Editors: Bobby Ghosh, Timothy Lavin.To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg Opinion’s editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net, .Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.




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'Passive aggression. It's a lifestyle': Ocasio-Cortez responds to a GOP congressional critic

'Passive aggression. It's a lifestyle': Ocasio-Cortez responds to a GOP congressional criticRep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., accused Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of having "deliberately misled the American people" about the treatment of migrants in detention.




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The Latest: Wisconsin sheriff draws parallel with Closs case

The Latest: Wisconsin sheriff draws parallel with Closs caseAuthorities in Wisconsin say a man suspected of killing four people may have been imitating the abduction last year of teenager Jayme Closs. Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk said Tuesday that investigators may never know exactly what led to the Sunday attacks. Kowalczyk says German used a shotgun to blast his way into the woman's home, and then shot and wounded her parents.




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Afghan soldier killed two US troops: official

Afghan soldier killed two US troops: officialAn Afghan soldier was responsible for the killing of two American troops a day earlier, an official told AFP Tuesday, in what appears to be the latest example of an insider attack. The US military on Monday said two of its troops had been killed in action in Afghanistan, but did not provide any additional details, pending notification of next of kin. Mohammad Qasam, a deputy police chief in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, said the attack took place at an Afghan army base during a visit by US forces.




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Chicago shooting deaths: Outcry as anti-gun violence mothers shot dead while campaigning

Chicago shooting deaths: Outcry as anti-gun violence mothers shot dead while campaigningTwo women who campaigned against Chicago’s infamous gun violence, have themselves been shot and killed on a street corner where activists frequently stood to keep watch.The anti-gun violence group Mothers Against Senseless Killings (MASK), confirmed Chantell Grant and Andrea Stoudemire were killed after a blue SUV pulled up to the corner, and someone in the vehicle opened fired into the crowd.“People are tired of being afraid. We’re sick of being afraid. We live in these communities and then we somehow are penalised and punished for living here. If you’re poor, you’re poor,” said MASK founder Tamar Manasseh.“But when women are killed, it’s not their fault. It’s not because they made bad decisions. It’s not they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.”Police said the two women were killed on Friday night in South Side neighbourhood of Englewood, where members of the group often stood watch.Mr Grant, 26, was mother to three young children. Ms Stoudemire, 35, had two children. They were among a total of 48 people shot in the city over the weekend, eight of them fatally.Chicago has a reputation for some of the deadliest and most persistent gun violence in the country, though it is not evenly distributed.Most occurs in the South Side, which has had a large African American population and which has long suffered from poverty, partly the result of hosing laws that long discriminated against minority communities.MASK was founded in 2015 and works to “interrupt violence and crime, and teach children to grow up as friends rather than enemies”.NNC News said there have been more than 1,190 shooting incidents in the city so far this year, and almost 1,530 shooting victims, according to police.Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi called the murders “senseless”. He added: “We have no evidence to suggest the women were the intended targets.”




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Motive for slayings at California festival still unclear two days later

Motive for slayings at California festival still unclear two days laterCalifornia police on Tuesday were still trying to determine why a teenager went on a shooting rampage over the weekend at a popular food festival south of San Jose, killing a 6-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a man in his 20s. The police have since obtained search warrants for a home in Gilroy associated with the suspect and the car they believe he drove to the festival, a decades-old annual event celebrating the produce farmed in the countryside of California's Santa Clara Valley.




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Princess Haya, Dubai ruler’s wife, urges UK court to grant a forced marriage protection order

Princess Haya, Dubai ruler’s wife, urges UK court to grant a forced marriage protection orderPrincess Haya Bint Al Hussein, the youngest wife of the multi-billionaire ruler of Dubai, has urged a British court to protect one of her ­children by granting a forced marriage ­protection order. The Jordanian princess, who fled to Britain in May with her two children “in fear for her life”, is fighting an ­application from her husband, Sheikh Mohammed, for the “summary return” of the youngsters to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Jordanian princess is also seeking a non-molestation order, a process normally used to protect someone who claims they have been subjected to ­domestic violence. However, the ­details surrounding the order, ­including to whom it applies, cannot be reported. The children are living with their mother in her £85 million home in Kensington, west London. The princess has applied successfully for them to be wards of court, and any decisions about their ­future cannot be made without the approval of the presiding judge, Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the Family Courts Division. Princess Haya, 45, attended the first day of the preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. It is the first time she has been seen in public since she left her family home in the Gulf last month. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Princess Haya bint Al Hussein attend Derby Day at Ascot in 2016 Credit: David M Benett/Getty In what is likely to be one of the most expensive child welfare cases in British family court history that may reveal how women are treated in the Dubai royal household, Princess Haya sat next to her lawyer, Baroness Shackleton, and stared intently, listening to proceedings. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, 70, the founder of the Godolphin horse racing stable and thought to be worth £9 billion, is not in court but is represented by Lady Helen Ward, a family and divorce lawyer. He and his estranged wife are both friends with the Queen, due to their shared love of horses. A court order is in place which means the names, ages and gender of their two children and details of the case cannot be reported. However, according to the Government’s website, the “forced marriage protection order” the princess is seeking for one of her children is commonly used to prevent someone “threatened with a forced marriage” leaving the country. The former Olympic equestrian, who became the sheikh’s sixth wife in 2004, was said to have flown on a private jet to Germany, before making her way to the UK. While the exact details of why she left are not known, some have said it stemmed from the earlier treatment of two of the sheikh’s princess daughters who also tried to flee. Princess Latifa, 33, ran away from Dubai last year to try to seek asylum. Princess Haya bint al-Hussein greeting Queen Elizabeth II in 2016 at Royal Ascot Credit: Jason Dawson However, she was seized off the coast of India by commandos and returned to Dubai. She recorded a video before her capture in which she warned her life was a sham and claimed she had suffered abuse. In December last year, Princess ­Latifa was pictured alongside Mary Robinson, the former president of ­Ireland and friend of Princess Haya, in the Dubai family home in what was largely seen as a publicity stunt. In 2000, Princess Shamsa ran away from her father’s estate near Chobham in Surrey. It is believed she was later abducted and returned to Dubai. It has been claimed Princess Haya, the half-sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan, fled Dubai because she learnt “the truth” about Princess Latifa. The sheikh, the vice-president and prime minister of the UAE as well as leader of Dubai, is said to have 23 ­children by his different wives. A poem recently appeared on his ­official Instagram page thought to have been written by him which accused an unnamed woman of “treachery and ­betrayal”. The judge on Tuesday allowed the ­media to report how Princess Haya had applied for wardship of their children, as well as for a forced marriage ­protection order and a non-molestation order. Rejecting an application by Sheikh Mohammed’s lawyers for those details to be subject to reporting restrictions, Sir Andrew ruled that “there is a public ­interest in the public understanding, in very broad terms, proceedings that are before the court.” The hearing continues.




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Pelosi, Schumer Stand Firm in Opposing Impeachment

Pelosi, Schumer Stand Firm in Opposing ImpeachmentSenator Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he stands with House speaker Nancy Pelosi in opposition to impeachment proceedings despite pressure from the caucus to move forward.“I believe that . . . Speaker Pelosi is handling this appropriately,” Schumer said in reference to Pelosi's strategy of encouraging Democratic House committee chairmen to continue their probes into President Trump and his campaign but hold off on impeachment.After former special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony to Congress last week, Pelosi stated that the House does not yet have the evidence necessary to open an impeachment inquiry. “We will proceed when we have what we need to proceed,” she said. “Not one day sooner.”Meanwhile, two members of Senate Democratic leadership have come out in favor of proceeding with impeachment. Assistant Democratic Leader Patty Murray of Washington called for an impeachment inquiry “to determine whether the president’s actions necessitate impeachment,” and Senator Debbie Stabenow, the chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, on Monday said she agreed.Minorities of the Democratic caucuses in both chambers support spearheading the impeachment process. Only twelve Democratic senators say they back impeachment, while over 100 but still fewer than half of the 235 Democratic House members agree.Despite consistent demands to begin the impeachment process against Trump among some Democratic lawmakers and voters, the movement has been largely kept at bay thanks to Pelosi.“I’m not for impeachment,” the speaker said in March. “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country."




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Police investigate after man says he found baby in freezer

Police investigate after man says he found baby in freezerA St. Louis man says a box that had been in his mother's freezer for decades contained the mummified remains of a newborn baby, which he discovered while cleaning out her home after she died. Adam Smith told St. Louis media outlets that he opened the cardboard box Sunday expecting to find something like the top of his mother's first wedding cake or money because she never had a bank account. St. Louis police confirmed that they are investigating a "suspicious death" involving an "unknown infant" found inside the home and that autopsy results were pending.




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Hong Kong Train Disruptions Show Protests Becoming Daily Affair

Hong Kong Train Disruptions Show Protests Becoming Daily Affair(Bloomberg) -- Fresh train disruptions by Hong Kong protesters Tuesday show how unrest once confined to weekend marches through downtown streets is spreading across the Asian financial hub and affecting daily life.Train services were slowed on the centrally located Island Line and the Kwun Tong Line across Victoria Harbor after black-clad protesters blocked doors and requested emergency assistance during the morning rush. There was yelling and confusion as commuters found themselves stuck in large crowds on subway platforms for the second time in less than a week.Although rail operator MTR Corp. said trains were resuming their normal schedules as of 11:30 a.m., such problems are expected to spread as protesters try to keep their grievances in the headlines and force a response by the city’s China-appointed government. The incident follows a weekend of rallies that saw a peaceful sit-in at Asia’s busiest international airport and sometimes rowdy mass protests that prompted police to fire tear gas in residential areas.The movement has proved surprisingly resilient more than eight weeks after as many as 1 million people took to the streets to oppose Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s now-suspended proposal to allow extraditions to mainland China. Authorities in Beijing have so far maintained their support for Lam, who has rejected demands that she resign, formally withdraw the bill and appoint an independent inquiry into the police’s use of force.Lam’s approval rating slipped another 2 percentage points over the past month to a record low 21%, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, formerly the HKU Public Opinion Programme. The share of people satisfied with the local government’s performance remained at an all-time 18%, unchanged from the previous survey.Authorities were set to charge 44 out of 49 people arrested during Sunday’s clashes with police with rioting, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday, citing an unidentified police source. The violence had erupted as officers fired volleys of tear gas at demonstrators in Sai Ying Pun, a residential and business area where the Chinese government’s liaison office is located. The people were expected to be brought to court on Wednesday, the newspaper said.China warned Monday that political unrest in the former British colony had gone “far beyond” peaceful protest, underscoring concern of more direct intervention. The demonstrations ultimately stem from anxiety that China has been eroding the rights and freedoms promised to Hong Kong before the end of colonial rule in 1997.Read more about the protests’ latest impact on Hong Kong stocksDuring Tuesday’s protests, services at the Lam Tin, Yau Tong and Tiu Keng Leng stations were suspended. At Tin Hau station on the Island Line, dozens of passengers were queuing up for refunds as train services were suspended.MTR Corp. shares added 0.1% as of 2.47 p.m. in Hong Kong trading, erasing earlier losses.“We understand some people want to express their view but we regret that their actions affected train services and other passengers,” Alan Cheng, MTR’s chief of operating, told reporters. He said platform safety devices had been activated 76 times during the morning, while train emergency buttons were triggered another 47.Protesters argue that they’ve been driven to guerrilla tactics because the former British colony’s unelected government is ignoring historic protests and the police are withholding protest permits and increasing their use of force. Since last month, different groups in the largely leaderless movement have surrounded police headquarters, mobbed government buildings and ransacked the city’s legislature.“Every confrontation between the protesters and the police has exacerbated their mutual hostility,” Hong Kong political commentator Joseph Cheng told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Tuesday. “It is difficult that there are no solutions in sight, no reconciliation process going on and it has become a test of wills.”While such tactics risk alienating the general public and causing further damage to the economy, the movement has also received support from the business community. The American Chamber of Commerce’s Hong Kong chapter on Monday urged an “internationally credible” independent inquiry into all aspects of the protest movement, saying action was needed to preserve the city’s strength as a global financial center.Earlier: AmCham Urges Hong Kong Action to Quell Growing Business ConcernsThe city’s otherwise model railway system has born the brunt of several recent incidents, including shocking mob attacks last week on protesters and other train passengers at a railway station in the northern suburb of Yuen Long. Protesters subsequently decided to disrupt train services to highlight the slow police response to the incident.The rail operator on Monday pledged a review of its safety procedures, a move the South China Morning Post newspaper said was prompted by strike threats and internal anger over criticism of a female train driver related to the Yuen Long incident. Last week, MTR chairman Rex Auyeung Pak-kuen endorsed calls for an inquiry into police action.“Hong Kongers only want police to do their jobs fearlessly in an unbiased manner and not serve their bosses in Beijing,” Max Chung, the organizer of the Yuen Long march, said Tuesday night after being released on bail. Chung had been arrested for inciting others to participate in an unlawful assembly, the city’s Now TV reported Sunday.(Updates with Max Chung comment in final paragraph.)\--With assistance from Sheryl Tian Tong Lee, Fion Li, Dominic Lau, Sofia Horta e Costa and Colin Keatinge.To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Simon Fuller in Hong Kong at sfuller37@bloomberg.net;Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Karen LeighFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.




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A 33-year-old woman who used to work for Amazon is the suspect in the massive Capital One hack — meet Paige Thompson

A 33-year-old woman who used to work for Amazon is the suspect in the massive Capital One hack — meet Paige ThompsonThompson is accused of stealing data from millions of Capital One customers, including Social Security numbers and linked bank accounts.




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Whither Evangelical Purity Culture? Thoughts on the Legacy of a Lost Pastor

Whither Evangelical Purity Culture? Thoughts on the Legacy of a Lost PastorIf you don’t live in Evangelical-world, you probably missed this news. An influential Evangelical author and pastor named Joshua Harris announced on Saturday that he was in the process of “deconstruction.” His statement was clear. “By all the measurements I have for defining a Christian,” he said, “I am not a Christian.” He apologized to the LGBT community for not affirming gay marriage and for the ways that his writing and speaking “contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry.”For Christians, it’s a sad statement, but it’s also full of real integrity. Rather than try to jam Christianity into his evolving worldview, he respects orthodoxy by opting out.Harris burst into prominence as a young Christian with every author’s dream: a giant, influential first-book bestseller. It was called I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and it sold almost a million copies. If anything, however, the sales numbers understated its influence. It was part of the foundation of Evangelical “purity culture,” and it revolutionized parenting and dating for countless Christian parents and families.I remember it well. I was a youth pastor for a few memorable months at the height of the courtship craze. The year was 1998, I was a youth volunteer at a small church in Georgetown, Ky., when our youth pastor left. Until we could find a new youth pastor, I was in charge. I preached the youth service every week, I led the youth Sunday school, and I led the youth prayer groups. I was also a commercial litigator in a big law firm, and suddenly I had two full-time jobs. It was one of the best times of my life.But we also had a problem. The youth ministry had gone all-in on purity culture. The previous youth pastor had even declared “no date ’98,” placing a moratorium on every kid in the youth group: not even a single date for the entire year. When it came to relationships, it would be “courtship” (tersely defined as parental-supervised visits and outings) or nothing.This wasn’t wanton repression or cruelty. Many parents had entered adulthood wounded by past broken relationships. They regretted the mistakes of their youth and desperately wanted their kids to avoid similar heartbreak. Also — and this is crucial for understanding purity culture — they fervently believed in a specific earthly reward for their child’s youthful obedience. Courtship represented the best method of ensuring a healthy, sexually vibrant marriage to a faithful spouse.This is what writer Katelyn Beaty called the “sexual prosperity gospel,” an “if/then” transactional relationship with God that manufactures a series of promises from scripture and then creates a form of Christian entitlement and expectation. “I did what you asked, Lord, now may I see my reward?”Beaty’s critique is well taken, and it’s certainly true that purity culture built a series of (often wildly unrealistic) expectations about the marriage relationship that awaited kids who courted. But I think it did something even darker — in its effect (if not its intent), it reversed the gospel message, teaching Christian kids that they risked being defined by their sins, not by Christ.It worked like this — sexual sin stained young persons, even if Christ forgave them. They would walk into marriage diminished in some crucial ways. The white dress, fundamentally, was a lie. And the message wasn’t confined to sexuality. Did you drink? Did you smoke a joint? Each one of those things altered a person’s self-definition. They were no longer “pure.” They could never be “pure” again.All too many times, I saw the despair. A young person would come to me and say, “I screwed up.” They would really mean, “I’m ruined.” Their storybook dreams were dead. A 17-year-old with (God willing) 70 years of life ahead of him would approach me carrying the awful burden of thinking that he had defined his life forever. He was no longer — and never would be — the person he wanted to be.Sometimes the despair would trigger wild rebellion. If they’re “ruined,” then why should they care about obedience? There are two states of being — virgin or not, teetotaler or not — and if you’re not, then you might as well indulge yourself. Other times the despair would trigger constant, nagging guilt and regret. A girl would walk down the aisle to marry a man who loved God and loved her, and she’d feel a shadow on her soul.In point of fact, the gospel message rests first on bad news, then on indescribably good news. The bad news is simple: You were never “pure.” It’s not as if sex or drink or drugs represent the demarcation line between righteous and unrighteous. They are not and were never the “special” sins that created particularly acute separation from God. Yes, they could have profound earthly consequences, but they did not create unique spiritual separation.The indescribably good news is that from the moment of the confession of faith, believers are not defined by their sin. They’re not defined even by their own meager virtues. They’re defined by Christ. Moreover, they find that “for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” This does not by any stretch mean that past sin wasn’t sin — one of my best friends is an eleven-years-sober addict who did dreadful things during his worst days — but it does mean that their past now gives them a unique ability to reach suffering people. Their terrible stories and past pain have been redeemed, transformed into instruments of grace and mercy.One of my first acts as youth pastor was to lift the ban on dating. Ending legalism is not the same thing as sanctioning sin, and I have no idea if there was more or less extramarital sex as a result of the dating ban or the purity rings. But it was incumbent upon me — in the limited time that I had in leadership — to tell the truth, and the truth was that legalism is its own kind of sin. To create burdens where Christ did not is an act of arrogance. It’s deeply harmful. And, sadly, it’s a way of life in all too many Christian churches.Harris has famously repented of his past legalism, and that makes his departure from the faith particularly poignant. He helped define young people by their sin, and then he left. He separated from his wife, and he rejected Christianity itself. He is like an inadvertent arsonist, who flees the burning house rather than helping fight the fire he helped ignite. I’m sad to see him go. I’m sadder still to see the pain he caused when he was present.




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Monday, July 29, 2019

'Pink Lady Bandit,' wanted by FBI after string of bank robberies along the East Coast

'Pink Lady Bandit,' wanted by FBI after string of bank robberies along the East CoastThe FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information on the suspect who robbed four banks along the East Coast.




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Trump doubles down on Cummings attacks, shares vulgar comment about Baltimore on Twitter

Trump doubles down on Cummings attacks, shares vulgar comment about Baltimore on TwitterPresident Trump doubled down on his attacks against House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, whose district he called a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” by retweeting a comment from a British columnist who referred to Baltimore as a “proper sh*thole.”




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New York reduces penalties for marijuana possession

New York reduces penalties for marijuana possessionNew York's governor signed a bill Monday that softens penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana and allows for the expungement of some past offenses. The law changes an unlawful possession of marijuana statute into a violation that's similar to a traffic ticket, instead of a criminal charge. The law also requires that records tied to low-level marijuana cases be automatically sealed and creates a process for expungement.




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Deputy who plays bailiff on courtroom TV show hurt in weekend shooting that killed his wife

Deputy who plays bailiff on courtroom TV show hurt in weekend shooting that killed his wifeThe deputy, who also does acting work, was hurt in the shooting that killed his wife in southeast Houston.




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