July 2019

July 31, 2019

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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July 31, 2019

'Please stay with me,' kidnapped Romanian girl begged policeThe family of a 15-year-old Romanian girl kidnapped earlier this month and now presumed dead has released recordings of her desperate calls for help to authorities whose handling of the case has caused public outrage and dismissals of officials. A mechanic from Caracal in south Romania has confessed to killing Alexandra Macesanu, who went missing on July 24, and another 18-year-old girl last seen in April. With authorities taking 19 hours to locate Macesanu after she made three calls to the emergency number 112, the case has sparked street protests, the interior minister's resignation, and the firing of some local officials.




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July 31, 2019

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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July 31, 2019

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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July 31, 2019

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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July 31, 2019

Report: Hamza bin Laden, Osama’s Son and Potential Successor, Is DeadThe U.S. has received intelligence that suggests Osama bin Laden's son and potential successor, Hamza, is dead, NBC News reported Wednesday.The three U.S. intelligence officials who spoke with NBC declined to share when, where, or how the younger bin Laden died, and would not say whether the U.S. was at all involved.The news, if confirmed, would dispel fears widely-held in the intelligence community that Hamza bin Laden was poised to succeed his father as the spiritual and tactical leader of al-Qaeda's global jihadist movement.Born around 1989, Hamza bin Laden traveled with his father to Afghanistan in 1996 and appeared regularly in al-Qaeda propaganda videos. Hamza was not present when Navy Seals raided Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad compound in 2011 and killed Osama following a global manhunt that began after the al-Qaeda-orchestrated 9/11 attacks. But documents found on at the compound indicated that Osama bin Laden was grooming his son for a leadership role in the terror group.In his last public statement, issued by al-Qaeda's propaganda outlet in 2018, Hamza threatened Saudi Arabia and called on his followers to revolt against the regime over its ongoing cooperation with the U.S.Citing Hamza's status as a “an emerging al Qaeda leader” who “has threatened attacks against the United States and allies,” the State Department announced in February a $1 million reward for any information on his whereabouts.




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July 31, 2019

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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July 31, 2019

Britain to spend an extra $2.6 billion on no-deal Brexit planningBritain is ramping up preparations for a no-deal Brexit by preparing to spend an extra 2.1 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) to make sure the country is ready to leave the European Union with or without a divorce deal at the end of October. The new government led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which took power last week, has pledged to leave the trading bloc without an agreement in three months unless the EU agrees to renegotiate the deal agreed by his predecessor Theresa May. Ministers have warned that one of the most hotly contested elements of the divorce agreement - the Irish border backstop - will have to be struck out if there is to be a deal, something the EU has repeatedly said it won't agree to.




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July 31, 2019

Escape bids by rebel princesses throw spotlight on UAE rightsPrincess Haya, who is battling her husband Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum in a UK court, is the third princess who has sought to escape the Gulf emirate in recent years. Activists say the attempts by Haya and two of Sheikh Mohammed's daughters to escape the United Arab Emirates (UAE) throw a harsh spotlight on the country's rights record, even as it tries to present a glitzy and modern image to the West. In 2000, Sheikha Shamsa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum tried to escape the family's entourage during a holiday in England, but was reportedly picked up two months later and forcibly returned to Dubai.




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July 31, 2019

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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July 31, 2019

Beto Slams Warren’s ‘Mistaken’ Call to Decriminalize Border CrossingsBeto O'Rourke criticized Senator Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday for suggesting that decriminalizing illegal border crossings is the most effective way to end family separations at the border.During the second round of Democratic primary debates Tuesday evening, Warren reiterated her support for eliminating the criminal statute prohibiting illegal entry into the country, which would ensure that only migrants who commit other, ostensibly more serious crimes can be detained.Asked about Warren's position during a Wednesday appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, O'Rourke argued that the family separations that occurred at the border under the Trump administration's “zero-tolerance” enforcement policy can be prevented without fundamentally altering immigration law.“I tried to correct the record, but wasn’t recognized to do this: Senator Warren mistakenly said that Donald Trump is using the criminal code to separate families and to cage kids and to visit this cruelty and inhumanity on our fellow human beings, and that’s just not right,” O'Rourke said.“You can use the civil code, the criminal code, or you could just look to one of the cruelest, most inhumane presidents that we’ve ever had. That’s the problem that we have right now. It’s not an immigration law that’s been on the books for decades,” he added.The former Texas congressman was one of just three Democratic primary candidates to demure when asked during the first round of debates whether they would support Representative Julian Castro's proposal to make illegal border crossing a civil, rather than a criminal, offense.O'Rourke, who grew up near the southern border in El Paso, Texas, defended his opposition to Castro's proposal by pointing out that section 1325 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which makes crossing the border a criminal offense, is primarily being used to detain people who are suspected of human or drug trafficking. In fact, only roughly ten percent of people caught crossing the border illegally this year were prosecuted under section 1325.




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July 31, 2019

‘Disgruntled’ Employee Kills Two Co-Workers Inside Mississippi Walmart: PoliceJoe Raedle/Getty ImagesA “disgruntled employee” at a Mississippi Walmart killed two co-workers and wounded a police officer in a deadly Tuesday shootout inside the superstore, authorities said.Martez Abram, 39, a recently-terminated employee of the Southaven store, was charged with two counts of murder Tuesday afternoon, DeSoto County District Attorney John Champion said. The deadly incident began around 6:30 a.m., when Southaven police responded to reports of an active shooter at a Walmart near the Tennessee border. Abram “senselessly murdered” two store employees and wounded an officer before he was injured and apprehended, authorities said. The victims have been identified as Anthony Brown, 40, and Brandon Gales, 38, the DeSoto County Coroner’s Office confirmed to The Daily Beast. “These people were doing the same thing you and I do everyday, showing up to work in an attempt to provide for their families, then became victims of a senseless violent act,” Moore told reporters at a Tuesday press conference. Bernie Sanders Confronts Walmart Over ‘Starvation Wages’ at Shareholder MeetingSouthaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite told reporters that Abram, who is currently in surgery at Regional Medical Center, was a former “disgruntled employee who had a personal grievance with employer.” Champion said Abram was terminated on Monday after showing another employee a knife in his belt. While the prosecutor did confirm that authorities are reviewing video evidence of the incident, he did not provide further details. Authorities said there were 60 employees inside the megastore, which is about 13 miles from Memphis, Tenn., when the gunfire started early Tuesday. When officers arrived, they found Abram in the parking lot and exchanged fire, Moore said.“One of our officers was shot at this time. He was saved by his vest," Moore said, adding that the officer was taken to another nearby hospital. “At this point, Abram was engaged by another officer. He was struck twice by gunfire from our officer. He was taken into custody.”6-Year-Old Boy Among 3 Killed at Gilroy Garlic Festival Mass ShootingGales’ father told local station FOX13 that the father of three was a Walmart employee for almost over 15 years and was recently promoted to department manager. Brown, a father of two and Mississippi native, was the store manager, his family told the local news station. Phil Cox,  a 70-year-old Walmart customer, told NBC News he had just left the store when he heard gunshots near him. Turning around, Cox said he saw a man sprinting into the store. “We were within milliseconds of being very close to him, coming right at him, and maybe being in the line of fire,” Cox said. “Now that we’ve had some time to think about it, it’s alarming we were that close.”Minnesota Father Charged With Murder After Setting House Fire That Killed Daughter: ProsecutorsRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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July 31, 2019

5 dead, 2 injured in residential shootings in WisconsinA shooter killed three family members at a home in a small Wisconsin town, then went to a residence in a nearby community and opened fire on more people, sheriff's officials said Monday. The shootings some 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) apart in northwestern Wisconsin left a total of five people dead, including the suspect, and two others wounded, authorities said. Authorities found the shooter and another person dead while responding to a 911 call in Lake Hallie in about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Sheriff James Kowalczyk told WQOW-TV.




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July 30, 2019

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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July 30, 2019

Tip on Canada murder suspects turns up empty: policeCanadian police on Monday said they have not found two murder suspects in an area of northern Manitoba they had searched for 24 hours after receiving a tip on the teenagers' possible location. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Sunday announced they had sent numerous officers to the indigenous community of York Landing to investigate a possible sighting of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, who are suspects in three murders. The Royal Canadian Air Force also assisted, but "after a thorough & exhaustive search, #rcmpmb has not been able to substantiate the tip in York Landing," Manitoba RCMP said on Twitter.




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July 30, 2019

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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July 30, 2019

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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July 30, 2019

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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July 30, 2019

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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July 30, 2019

Top aides leave Dem campaign arm amid diversity complaintsA mass departure of top aides shook the House Democrats' campaign arm Tuesday, an exodus that followed complaints from Hispanic and black lawmakers that the organization's staff lacked diversity and that came amid a war of words between the party and President Donald Trump over race. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement late Monday that she had "fallen short" and promised to "work tirelessly to ensure that our staff is truly inclusive." Executive Director Allison Jaslow announced her departure Monday, and a DCCC aide said five other senior aides had also resigned hours later.




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July 30, 2019

'Stay inside and lock your doors': Tiny Canadian village on lockdown as teenage murder spree suspects spotted scavenging for foodA massive police manhunt has been launched in a remote part of northern Canada for a pair of teenager double murder suspects.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been chasing Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, for weeks since the pair were connected to two separate killings in British Columbia earlier this month.The teenagers have been tracked in a series of stolen cars as they have travelled thousands of miles across Canada, from its Pacific coast in the west all to the way east to rural Manitoba.Police helicopters, a plane, drones, dog units and armed officers have flooded the area around York Landing, a small village in remote northern Manitoba, where a local indigenous neighbourhood watch group had spotted the duo.Officers tweeted residents in York Landing should stay inside and lock all their doors and windows while the heavy police presence searched their community.James Favel from the Bear Clan Patrol, the First Nations group which reported the sighting, said some of his volunteers spotted two young men who matched the description of Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky.The pair immediately stood out in the small, close-knit village while scavenging for food near a dump and ran away as soon as they realised they had been seen, he added.RCMP units had already been searching the nearby town of Gillam and believe the pair have been cornered in this region of rural Manitoba.But the intense police presence was leaving its mark on the locals. “Up here, all the towns and communities, they look like ghost towns,” said Wade Taylor, another volunteer with the Bear Clan Patrol.“Like, everyone’s inside. There’s a high level of stress, anxiety and fearfulness because they’re being kept in their houses.“Some of the people, you can tell by their voice that they’re almost at the point of breaking down crying. You could say it’s traumatic.”The manhunt saga began on 12 July when Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky, childhood friends, left their home in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island and travelled 1,500 miles north to Whitehorse, in the Yukon, to look for work.But on 15 July police discovered the bodies of a young couple near Liard Hot Springs, back in British Columbia and the RCMP has said the teenagers are suspects in the case and wanted for questioning.A few days later a burnt-out truck driven by the pair was discovered, along with the body of Leonard Dyck. Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky have been charged with his murder and chased across Canada by the RCMP ever since.The duo are believed to be armed and the public has been warned not to approach them.The father of Mr Schmegelsky has told reporters he believes his son is on a “suicide mission” and expects him to eventually die in a confrontation with the police. “A normal child doesn’t travel across the country killing people,” he said. “A child in some very serious pain does.”




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July 30, 2019

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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July 30, 2019

'India Ashamed': Outrage grows over ruling party lawmaker accused of rapeProtesters stepped up demands on Tuesday for India's ruling party to sack a state lawmaker accused by a young woman of raping her, holding several demonstrations just days after the accuser was critically injured in a highway collision. Opposition groups say Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is protecting Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a legislator from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, whom the woman accused of the rape in 2017. "Why do we give people like Kuldeep Sengar the strength and protection of political power and abandon their victims to battle for their lives alone?" Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, asked on Twitter.




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July 30, 2019

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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July 30, 2019

Death penalty sought for woman accused of killing ex-senatorProsecutors said Tuesday they plan to seek the death penalty against a woman charged in the killing of a former Arkansas lawmaker who investigators say was found dead from multiple stab wounds outside her home. An arrest affidavit for Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell released Tuesday said O'Donnell was caught on video removing security cameras from inside the home of former state Sen. Linda Collins the last day Collins was seen alive. O'Donnell has been charged with capital murder in the death of Collins, who went by Collins-Smith in the Legislature.




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July 29, 2019

Police: 1998 Arkansas school shooter killed in crashA man who was 11 years old in 1998 when he and a friend fatally shot four students and a teacher at their Arkansas middle school has died in a crash on a northeastern Arkansas highway, the State Police said. Drew Grant, 33, who had legally changed his name from Andrew Golden and had been living in Jackson, Missouri, died at around 9 p.m. Saturday, television station KAIT reported. The vehicle he was driving crashed head-on into another vehicle on Highway 167 near Cave City, which is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Little Rock.




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July 29, 2019

Two-year-old boy missing after both parents found dead in apparent 'murder-suicide'Authorities are looking for an Oregon toddler who remains missing after his parents died in what is believed to be a murder suicide. The Medford Police Department and the FBI are searching for Aiden Salcido, aged two, whose parents Daniel Salcido and Hannah Janiak died after fleeing from police. The couple, who had felony burglary warrants for their arrest, were found dead on Wednesday in Kalispell, Montana. Shortly before, officers had stopped a car and identified Salcido and Janiak inside. However, the couple fled the scene. The police officers gave chase and spiked the car’s tyres, forcing it to come to a stop. When officers approached the vehicle they found the couple dead inside. In a statement, the FBI said Janiak was found with a gunshot wound to her head and Salcido appeared to have a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Their son, Aiden, was not in the vehicle, which officers described as a 1996 GMC Jimmy with Oregon license plates.Earlier in the month, warrants had been issued for the couple after Janiak failed to show up at court. The Jackson County, Oregon, Sheriff's Office had investigated the couple for a burglary in 2018, the FBI said. Both were convicted of the charges, and Janiak was to begin serving her sentence at the Jackson County Jail on 11 June. She did not show up for her sentencing. Felony warrants were subsequently issued for the couple's arrest. The FBI said relatives were concerned for the couple and their son because they had not made contact with any friends or family.Investigators searched Janiak's financial records and found that the last activity was on 3 June and 4 June, when two purchases were made at a Walmart in Medford, the FBI said. The purchases were caught on surveillance video, which showed the parents and Aiden together. The couple purchased camping equipment, the FBI said. Along with camping gear and clothing, detectives found a receipt in the car from the Kalispell Walmart dated 25 July, the same day they died. Salcido and Janiak appeared in the surveillance video, but Aiden did not, Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino told the Flathead Beacon. The relatives described Janiak to law enforcement as a good mother who had mental health issues. Relatives also said the family was homeless and would camp along the greenway in Medford.In a statement the Kalispell Police Department said: "Investigators are greatly concerned for Aiden's welfare and are asking for the public's help in locating him safely and expeditiously."Anyone with information on his whereabouts or information on where the family had been staying during the time they were reported missing is asked to contact Medford police at (541) 774-2258.Additional reporting by AP




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July 29, 2019

Trump’s Racist Tweets Don't Break Any Rules, Twitter SaysPhoto Illustration by Kelly Caminero/The Daily BeastPresident Donald Trump’s spree of tweets attacking black political figures over the weekend do not violate Twitter’s rules prohibiting dehumanizing language, the company said. Trump wrote that Rep. Elijah Cummings’ (D-MD) congressional district, a majority-black area that includes part of Baltimore, was a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and that “no human being” would want to live there. He further retweeted a British conservative commentator who called Baltimore “a proper shithole.” A day later, the president said there was “nothing racist” about his tweets, turning his criticism toward longtime Democratic political operative Rev. Al Sharpton, who he called a conman.In early July, Twitter announced new rules disallowing tweets that deny the humanity of religious groups after nearly a year of deliberation and public comment. The company considered banning all dehumanizing speech, including attacks on geographic origin, reportedly using the president’s “shithole countries” remark as an example, but narrowed the policy to encompass religion and groups explicitly protected by civil rights laws.Cummings, chair of the House Oversight Committee, has been investigating Trump and recently decried detention conditions at the Southern U.S. border. Last week the president made similar attacks against four newly minted Representatives, all women of color, telling them to go back to their countries. Three of four were born in the U.S. The comments also did not run afoul of Twitter’s rules.Whether Trump’s racist tweets violate Twitter’s rules has long been a subject of debate, and Twitter has often fallen back on the defense that, as the U.S. president, his remarks are newsworthy and should remain visible. Under a policy announced in late June, however, Twitter said it will label tweets by prominent figures that break the social network’s abusive behavior rules when it's “in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain available.” Twitter opted not to give Trump’s latest set of tweets that label. 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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