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Marianne Williamson did not speak for the first 27 minutes of the Democratic debate on Thursday. But when she finally did, everything she said was awesome.

If you’re not familiar, Williamson, who will turn 67 on July 8, is an author, spiritual leader, and friend to Oprah Winfrey. (Bet this time last year, you thought you’d be talking about Oprah on the debate stage and not her spiritual guru, right?)

She launched her presidential campaign in January and has more or less been flying under the radar, but her persona is distinctive: She sort of feels like a cross between your local psychic, the hippie lady who runs the town secondhand store, and your mom (or, um, you) two glasses of Chardonnay deep. She speaks with a cadence and accent that’s hard to put your finger on, but let’s just say it’s the definition of, as Marianne would probably put it, groovy.

Will she be president? Well, no. But Marianne is fun.

Williamson got a spot on the stage at the second night of the Democratic debates — something candidates including Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and Rep. Seth Moulton failed to achieve. And girlfriend (as Marianne would, again, probably put it) did not disappoint.

Here’s what she said, verbatim, because that’s really all you need:

On how she’d lower the cost of prescription drugs:

First of all, the government should never have made the deal with Big Pharma that they couldn’t negotiate. That was just part of the regular corruption by which corporations have their way with us. You know, I want to say, and while I agree — and I’m with Sen. Bennet and others, but I agree with almost everything here.

I tell you one thing, it’s really nice if we have all these plans, but if you think we beat Donald Trump by just having all these plans, you’ve got another thing coming. Because he didn’t win by saying he had a plan. He won by simply saying, “Make America Great Again.”

We have to get deeper than just these superficial fixes, as important as they are. Even if we’re just talking about the superficial fixes, ladies and gentlemen, we don’t have a health care system in the United States, we have a sickness care system in the United States. We just wait until somebody gets sick and then we talk about who is going pay for the treatment and how they’re going to be treated.

What we need to talk about is why so many Americans have unnecessary chronic illnesses, so many more, compared to other countries. It gets back into not just Big Pharma, not just health insurance companies, but it has to do with chemical policies, it has to do with environmental policies, it has to do with food, it has to do with drug policies, and it has to do with environment policies.

On family separation:

What Donald Trump has done to the children, and it’s not just in Colorado, [Gov. Hickenlooper], you’re right, it is kidnapping and it’s extremely important for us to realize that.

If you forcibly take a child from their parents’ arms, you are kidnapping them. If you take a lot of children and you put them in a detainment center, thus inflicting trauma upon them, that’s called child abuse. This is collective child abuse. … Both of those things are a crime. If your government does it, that doesn’t make it less of a crime. These are state-sponsored crimes.

What President Trump has done is not only attack these children, not only demonize these immigrants, he is attacking a basic principle of America’s moral core: We open our hearts to the stranger.

This is extremely important. It’s also important for all of us, and I have great respect for everyone who is on this stage, but we’re going to talk about what to do about health care? Well, where have you been, guys? Because it’s not just a matter of a plan, and I haven’t heard anybody on this stage who has talked about American foreign policy in Latin America and how we might have in the last few decades contributed to something being more helpful.

On criminal justice reform and police brutality:

All of these issues are extremely important, but they are specifics, they are symptoms, and the underlying cause has to do with deep, deep, deep realms of racial injustice, both in our criminal justice system and in our economic system. And the Democratic Party should be on the side of reparations for slavery for this very reason. I do not believe, I do not believe, that the average American is a racist, but the average American is woefully undereducated about the history of race in the United States.

On addressing climate change — and age?

The fact that somebody has a younger body doesn’t mean that you don’t have old ideas. John Kennedy did not say, “I have a plan to get a man to the moon, and so we’re going to do it, and I think we can all work together, and maybe we can get a man on the moon.” John Kennedy said, “By the end of this decade, we are going to put a man on the moon.” Because John Kennedy was back in the day when politics included the people and included imagination and included great dreams and included great plans.

I have had a career not making the political plans, but I have had I a career harnessing the inspiration and the motivation and the excitement of people. Masses of people. When we know that when we say we are going to turn from a dirty economy to a clean economy, we’re going to have a Green New Deal, we’re going to create millions of jobs, we’re going to do this within the next 12 years, because I’m not interested in just winning the next election, we are interested in our grandchildren. Then it will happen.

On which issue she would push first as president:

My first call is to the prime minister of New Zealand, who said her goal was to make New Zealand the place where it’s the best place in the world for a child to grow up. And I will tell her, “Girlfriend, you are so on.” Because the United States of America is going to be the best place in the world for a child to grow up.

On the international relationship she would reset:

One of my first phone calls would be to call the European leaders and say, “We’re baaack.” Because I totally understand how important it is that the United States be part of the Western alliance.

Her closing statement — and message to Donald Trump:

I’m sorry we haven’t talked more tonight about how we’re going to beat Donald Trump. I have an idea about Donald Trump: Donald Trump is not going to be beaten just by insider politics talk. He’s not going to be beaten just by somebody who has plans. He’s going to be beaten by somebody who has an idea what the man has done. This man has reached into the psyche of the American people and he has harnessed fear for political purposes.

So, Mr. President — if you’re listening — I want you to hear me please: You have harnessed fear for political purposes and only love can cast that out. So I, sir, I have a feeling you know what you’re doing. I’m going to harness love for political purposes. I will meet you on that field, and sir, love will win.

Source Article from https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/28/18961296/marianne-williamson-democratic-debate-oprah-meme-twitter

Updated 8:35 AM ET, Sat August 7, 2021

(CNN)The idea that kids don’t get hit hard by Covid-19 is losing steam — in part because of a variant more contagious than any we’ve seen before.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/07/health/children-covid-19-protection/index.html

    Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersSanders vows to create tougher nationwide drinking water standards as president Sanders: Speed of Medicare for All plan is a ‘major difference’ with Warren Warren vows to ‘attack corruption in Washington’ in New Year’s Eve address MORE (I-Vt.) said Tuesday that one of the “major differences” between himself and Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth Ann WarrenYang raises .5 million in final week of December Sanders: Speed of Medicare for All plan is a ‘major difference’ with Warren Warren vows to ‘attack corruption in Washington’ in New Year’s Eve address MORE (D-Mass.) is in how quickly they would roll out “Medicare for All,” drawing a contrast on the key campaign issue. 

    Sanders and Warren are vying for the progressive mantle in the Democratic presidential primary, but they have largely shied away from criticizing each other. Sanders, however, did point to some daylight on his signature issue of Medicare for All when asked on Tuesday by NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard how he would contrast himself with Warren.

    “I’m not into attacking my colleagues,” Sanders told NBC. “We’re about differentiating differences of issues. And I think maybe one of the major differences is what I have said over and over again and I just repeated it right now, in my first week in office we will introduce a Medicare for All, single-payer program.”

    Warren, in contrast, is not calling for introducing full-scale Medicare for All in her first week in office. She instead has a plan to pass an optional government-run health insurance plan as a first step in her first 100 days in office. Only by her third year in office does she call for passing additional legislation to implement full-scale Medicare for All. 

    Backers of Warren’s approach say it could be more realistic first to pass an optional program as a stepping stone to full Medicare for All, given resistance to fully abolishing private health insurance among many Senate Democrats whose votes will be needed to pass a bill. 

    Sanders, however, prides himself on pushing right away for full-scale Medicare for All, which would effectively abolish private health insurance, saying he will harness public pressure on Congress, even if it will be very difficult to get it passed.

    “Senator Warren’s position is a little bit different,” Sanders said. “Check it out. Her transition period is quite different than ours.”

    He touted that his proposal would expand Medicare benefits to cover dental, vision and hearing care and lower the eligibility age to 55 within the first year of a four-year transition plan under his legislation. 

    Former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenGiuliani says he would be willing to testify in impeachment trial Sanders: Speed of Medicare for All plan is a ‘major difference’ with Warren Saager Enjeti rips Biden, says coal miner remarks harken back to Clinton mistakes of 2016 MORE and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete ButtigiegPeter (Pete) Paul ButtigiegSanders: Speed of Medicare for All plan is a ‘major difference’ with Warren Warren vows to ‘attack corruption in Washington’ in New Year’s Eve address Panel: Why aren’t candidates taking more shots at Joe Biden? MORE, more moderate candidates, are touting an optional government-run health insurance plan while allowing people to keep their private insurance if they wanted.

    Sanders pushed back forcefully on those plans on Tuesday, as he has in the primary debates as well. 

    Asked why the country should not go with the public option proposed by Biden and Buttigieg, Sanders replied, “because it doesn’t work.”

    He noted there would still be some cost to patients in premiums under Biden and Buttigieg’s plans. 

    “How much does the public option cost? Have you got the number? What’s the number exactly?” Sanders asked.  

    “The current system, which they are defending, with minor tweaks, is far and away the most expensive system in the world,” he added.

    Source Article from https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/476396-sanders-speed-of-medicare-for-all-push-is-a-major-difference-with-warren

    That, of course, was the central dilemma facing the Obama administration making its first, secret approach to Iran six years ago. At first, Mr. Obama’s aides insisted Iran would have to give up everything, but that the Tehran government could produce no material that might ultimately be diverted to a bomb.

    Eventually, American negotiators concluded after years of running into walls that it would be better to leave Iran with a face-saving token capability for 15 years, and vigorous international inspections, than walk away with no agreement and the real prospect of war.

    Many of Mr. Obama’s critics, including some Democrats, have said the negotiators gave up too much. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump quickly honed in on the nuclear agreement’s most glaring weakness: After 15 years, the Iranians could resume unlimited fuel production.

    Mr. Obama’s essential bet was that in 15 years Iran will have different leadership, perhaps more interested in integrating with the world than keeping a bomb-making capability. So he brought into the negotiation a nuclear scientist in his cabinet, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

    Mr. Moniz, the former head of the M.I.T. nuclear physics lab, sat for months with his Iranian counterpart, who had done his graduate studies at M.I.T. They bonded, and emerged with an agreement that Energy Department scientists certified would assure Iran would need a year or more to “break out” and manufacture the fuel needed for a nuclear weapon — until the 15-year clock ran out.

    Now Mr. Trump’s negotiators have decided they need the same thing — but it must be permanent.

    The schedule that Mr. Rouhani announced to his nation last week would put Iran back on the path of nuclear fuel production. Sooner or later, it would cross that one-year threshold. Iran has never enriched at the level of purity needed to produce a weapon, inspectors say, but they have come close.

    “If you want to keep Iran more than a year away from the capability to build a bomb, the way to do it is to go back into the deal,” said Jake Sullivan, a former Obama administration national security official who helped open the negotiations with Tehran. “Because that’s exactly what the deal does.”

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/us/politics/trump-iran-nuclear-deal.html

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday failed again to pass a $19.1 billion disaster aid bill supported by President Donald Trump after a Republican lawmaker objected to the measure.

    Following Senate passage of the legislation last Thursday by a vote of 85-8, House Democratic leaders had hoped to win quick, unanimous approval of the bill on a voice vote and send it to Trump for his expected signature.

    But with most lawmakers out of town for a recess until June 4, individual House Republicans have been able to block passage twice – once last Friday and again on Tuesday – by demanding an official roll call vote. Such action would have to wait until the full House returns to work next week.

    House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Democrats will try again to pass the bill on a voice vote Thursday. If that does not work, Hoyer predicted the measure will pass “overwhelmingly” when the House returns next week. A national flood insurance program, which the legislation would extend, expires this Friday, Hoyer said.

    For months, lawmakers have been haggling over the disaster aid bill in response to hurricanes in the southeastern United States, severe flooding in the Midwest, devastating wildfires in California and other events.

    The $19.1 billion in the bill is intended to help farmers cover their crop losses and rebuild infrastructure hit by disasters, including repairs to U.S. military bases.

    On Tuesday Republican Representative Thomas Massie objected to passage, saying there should be a roll-call vote on a bill of such magnitude.

    Massie, a Republican and Trump supporter, also told reporters he opposed the bill because there was no plan to pay for the disaster relief. He said he had not coordinated his objections with House Republican leaders or the White House.

    “Everybody wants to be a hero by coming in and writing checks (for disaster aid). Those checks aren’t backed up by anything. We’re borrowing the money for all of this,” Massie said.

    Congress regularly approves disaster aid bills without any cuts to other programs. Heritage Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, has urged Congress to plan for disasters that occur every year instead of approving “emergency” funds for them after the fact.

    Last Friday, another Republican conservative, Representative Chip Roy, objected to the bill, citing concerns that it did not include the $4.5 billion Trump had requested to deal with a surge of Central American immigrants on the U.S. southwestern border with Mexico.

    Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; editing by Tim Ahmann, Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie Adler

    Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-disaster/disaster-aid-bill-worth-191-billion-blocked-again-in-house-idUSKCN1SY22M

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    Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Friday he’s entering the 2020 presidential race as a climate change crusader but he’s facing risk given polls show the issue ranks near the bottom as an issue priority for adult Americans.

    “I’m running for president because I’m the only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation’s number one priority,” Inslee said in a video released Friday.

    Inslee, 68, joins a crowded field of Democratic contenders who have announced or are considering running for president.

    He is the first governor enter the 2020 Democratic presidential contest while another Western governor also is considering a run — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.

    In a Morning Consult survey last month, Inslee ranked 21st among Democratic primary voters. He was below Bullock and another potential contender, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

    Inslee has openly discussed his interest in a White House run for many months and from the start focused on climate change. The Democrat has already visited key early states, including Iowa and New Hampshire.

    “We’re the first generation to feel the sting of climate change,” Inslee said in Friday’s video. “And we’re the last that can do something about it.”

    The Washington governor is expected to make the White House bid official during an event Friday morning at a Seattle-area solar installation company. In a release, his campaign said Inslee’s policies have helped “grow Washington’s clean energy economy” and include signing a solar incentive jobs bill in 2017.

    But not everyone considers climate change a top priority issue, according to Pew Research Center.

    A Pew survey conducted in January found only 44 percent view climate change as a top priority of President Donald Trump and Congress, ranking it second lowest after global trade (39 percent). By comparison, 70 percent of those surveyed felt the economy should rank top as a policy priority and 69 percent identified health care costs.

    Climate policies

    In November, Inslee visited California after the Camp Fire destroyed most of the town of Paradise and later spoke about how climate change is contributing to more dangerous wildfires. Some of images in the launch video released Friday appear to show devastation from the Camp Fire, which destroyed more than 10,000 homes and killed 86 people.

    Inslee, a two-term governor who applauds the Green New Deal, has been outspoken on the environmental issues and the need for clean energy for more than a decade. Prior to becoming governor, he served in Congress and authored “Apollo’s Fire,” a 2007 book about how to reduce greenhouse gases and gain energy independence.

    Yet several other Democratic presidential contenders are also talking about climate change themes and a mix of ways to combat greenhouse gas emissions, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii. Also, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has weighed in on climate change as a human rights issue.

    Carbon tax defeat

    Inslee’s climate agenda suffered a setback last year when the oil industry funded a campaign to defeat a carbon emissions fee initiative the governor backed. The measure was seen as a way to raise revenue as well as to help the state achieve ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals.

    One way around the voter setback is a pending clean energy bill that would require the state’s utilities to be carbon-free by 2045. The state already gets the majority of its power from hydroelectricity sources.

    He also is a former criminal prosecutor and was a state legislator in Olympia before getting elected Washington’s 23rd governor in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. He could seek a third term if his presidential run isn’t successful.

    The Washington governor also has strong views on other issues, including gun control, health care, immigration and labor issues.

    Gun Control

    Inslee is an advocate for stricter gun control laws and in 1994 while in Congress voted for the 10-year assault weapons ban. He also challenged Trump at a White House event last year on the issue of arming teachers with firearms.

    Last year, Washington voters approved Initiative 1639, a measure Inslee supported that raised the age to purchase semiautomatic rifles to 21, from 18. The initiative also expanded background checks for rifles and added other new regulations, including firearm education and new standards for secured gun storage.

    Health Care

    Inslee backs a public health care option for the state that would compete with private insurers. The plan was proposed in January and promises that patients will spend no more than 10 percent of their income on premiums.

    The Democrat has criticized the “instability” in the health care system that was caused by undermining Obamacare. His plan would expand subsidies to private insurers but has generated criticism due to concerns about costs from some critics.

    Immigration

    Inslee has been critical of Trump’s immigration policies and signed an executive order in 2017 that limited the state’s role in enforcing immigration enforcement laws. He also pushed to increase the state’s emergency funding to support civil legal aid services for immigrant families.

    The governor also recently called Trump’s emergency declaration over the border wall “illegal” and last year slammed the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of separating families as “an intentional infliction, abusive behavior to punish innocent children.”

    Labor

    While he’s been governor, Washington state’s minimum wage has increased and currently stands at $12 an hour and is scheduled to jump to $13.50 in 2020. Seattle’s minimum wage last year jumped to $15 for those employers offering paid medical benefits while smaller employers have a wage floor of $14 an hour.

    Inslee also has talked up progressive policies in the Evergreen State, including what he’s called one of nation’s “best paid family and medical leave” programs.

    Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/01/jay-inslee-faces-risk-in-2020-race-as-polling-shows-climate-not-top-issue.html

    The shootings in Texas and Ohio that killed at least 29 people over the weekend left authorities searching for how to confront the challenges posed by mass violence and domestic terrorism, especially attacks driven by white-nationalist ideologies.

    Violence committed by white men inspired by an extremist ideology make up a growing number of domestic terrorism cases, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Of about 850 current domestic terrorism cases, 40% involve racially motivated violent extremism and a majority…

    Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/shootings-highlight-law-enforcement-challenges-to-combating-domestic-terror-11564947769

    5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday

    U.S. stock futures point to a strong open on Wall Street, a day after the Dow lost 285 points and broke a three-session winning streak.

    read more

    Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/04/boris-johnson-pushes-britain-to-brink-of-an-election-heres-what-could-happen-next.html

    Second, without precluding impeachment for this or other conduct, the House should pass a resolution condemning the welcoming of interference, reaffirming the obligation to report such conduct, explaining the necessity of protecting the American people’s right to pick their own leaders (can you believe such a statement is needed?) and setting forth the danger of such influence-peddling schemes that reduce anyone stupid enough to take such a meeting as a pawn of a foreign action. Again, let’s see which Republicans vote against it and on what grounds Senate Republicans object to the most basic reaffirmation of our democratic system.

    Source Article from https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/06/14/jennifer-rubin-what-do/

    Illinois reported its 5th death due to the illness on Friday. State Public Health chief Ngozi Ezike said there are 585 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 25 counties.

    Non-essential businesses must shut down, Pritzker said, but the “fundamental building blocks” of society will not change. Similar to New York and Ohio, which have also shuttered a range of businesses to fight COVID-19, restaurants are barred from offering dine-in service but take-out and drive-through will continue.

    “We know this will be hard,” Pritzker said. “This will not last forever. But it will force us to change. We in Illinois have overcome obstacles before and we will again.”

    Pritzker’s new plan goes well beyond what Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told city residents in a Thursday afternoon address from her ceremonial office in City Hall, mostly urging those who feel sick to stay home.

    By Friday afternoon, Lightfoot made the leap alongside the governor.

    “This is a make break or break moment for the city and the state,” Lightfoot said during Friday’s briefing.

    Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/20/illinois-pritzker-coronavirus-139601

    Part of the challenge is that the unvaccinated live in communities dotted throughout the United States, in both lightly and densely populated counties. Though some states like Missouri and Arkansas have significantly lagged the nation in vaccination rates, unvaccinated Americans are, to varying degrees, everywhere: In Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago, 51 percent of residents are fully vaccinated. Los Angeles County is barely higher, at 53 percent. In Wake County, N.C., part of the liberal, high-tech Research Triangle area, the vaccination rate is 55 percent.

    The rate of vaccinations across the country has slowed significantly since April, but there are signs in recent days of a new rise in shots being distributed, with upticks in vaccinations particularly in states like Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri, where cases have grown. As of Friday, about 652,000 doses, on average, were being given each day, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; that was up from recent weeks, when the country hovered just above 500,000 shots a day. Nationwide, about 97 percent of people hospitalized with Covid-19 are unvaccinated, federal data shows.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/us/virus-unvaccinated-americans.html

    President Donald Trump seems to have a new ally in his 2020 reelection fight: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. More shocking, though, is that Trump appears fine with it — and is siding with the brutal dictator over a fellow American.

    Last week, the state-run Korean Central News Agency published a scathing article targeting top Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden. Among other insults, the commentary called the former vice president “a fool of low IQ” and listed off a series of embarrassing moments in his life — like the time Biden fell asleep during a 2011 speech by then-President Barack Obama, or how in 1987 he admitted to plagiarizing in school.

    Trump seemed delighted by the KCNA hit piece, tweeting Sunday that he had “confidence” Kim had “smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse.”

    And asked about his tweet during a press conference alongside Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo* the next day, Trump reiterated his stance. “Kim Jong Un made a statement that Joe Biden is a low-IQ individual. He probably is, based on his record. I think I agree with him on that,” the president told reporters.

    Just stop for a second and think about that: The president of the United States endorsed a foreign government’s nasty insults of America’s former vice president — and did so while standing next to the leader of a top American ally.

    That’s appalling behavior from the president. There’s an unwritten rule that Americans — and especially high-level American politicians — are supposed to leave domestic politics at the water’s edge when they travel abroad. That means you don’t talk badly about your political opponents overseas, but instead show a united front as a representative of the United States.

    Not only did Trump violate that very basic principle, he did so gleefully — and sided with a murderous, repressive dictator while he was at it.

    Even some of Trump’s allies in Congress, like Rep. Pete King (R-NY), were appalled by Trump’s behavior.

    Some experts, however, aren’t too shocked by Trump’s remarks. “This is Trump being Trump, using anything he can to strike his political enemies,” Harry Kazianis, a North Korea expert at the Center for the National Interest in Washington, told me.

    Still, it shows that Trump has a penchant for siding with dictators when it most suits him — even at the expense of Americans and US allies.

    Trump breaks with Bolton and Abe on North Korea’s missile tests

    Trump didn’t just side with Kim when it comes to making fun of Biden — he also took Kim’s side on a much more serious issue: missile testing.

    Earlier this month, North Korea conducted two tests of short-range ballistic missiles, ending an 18-month break in provocations. Many analysts viewed the tests as (literal) warning shots to Trump that Pyongyang is very, very unhappy that months of nuclear talks have produced few tangible results.

    The two tests prompted Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton to tell reporters in Tokyo on Saturday that there was “no doubt” North Korea violated United Nations resolutions barring such launches, effectively making the case that they were a severe provocation.

    But Trump, who has spent months trying to strike a nuclear deal with Kim, brushed those concerns aside.

    “My people think it could have been a violation, as you know. I view it differently,” Trump said, with Bolton sitting only a few feet away during the joint press conference with Abe. “There have been no ballistic missiles going out,” he continued, going against even the Pentagon’s assessment. “There have been no long-range missiles going out. And I think that someday we’ll have a deal. I’m not in a rush.”

    The Japanese prime minister had a different take, though. “North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile. This is violating the Security Council resolution,” Abe said. “So my reaction is, as I said earlier on, it is of great regret,” he continued, making sure still to give credit to Trump for engaging diplomatically with Kim.

    That moment was, to put it mildly, troubling.

    Japan, a staunch US ally, is the country that is among the most directly threatened by North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile programs. North Korea views Japan, its former colonizer, as a mortal enemy, and many of the missiles the country tests land near — or even fly directly over — Japan (although the last two tests didn’t threaten Japan at all).

    At a time like this, the US president would normally stand firmly alongside the Japanese prime minister and state unequivocally that North Korea should stop conducting tests of weapons that could kill thousands of Japanese people. Instead, Trump’s avid desire for a deal with Kim led to a massive break in Washington and Tokyo’s position on a top national security issue for both capitals.

    Put together, Monday’s press conference was an unmitigated disaster for Trump. It would be an extraordinary event if it weren’t already so ordinary.

    Trump’s Japan comments were Helsinki-esque

    In July 2018, Trump stood alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and made shocking comments: telling the world he bought Putin’s claim that Moscow didn’t interfere in the 2016 presidential election — even though US intelligence agencies clearly assessed it did.

    “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said during a press conference with the Russian leader.

    While Trump’s performance in Tokyo on Monday wasn’t as bombastic, he still substantively did the same thing as in Helsinki: agreed with a dictator at the expense of Americans.

    It’s now an established pattern for the American president: It’s more likely that he will say things that most make him look good — regardless of whom it might make look bad. If you think that’s not a trait an American president should have, it’s because it’s not.


    *Editor’s note: Vox’s style guidelines on the Japanese prime minister’s name have changed to better reflect Japanese naming conventions. From now on, the prime minister’s name will be written as “Abe Shinzo,” not “Shinzo Abe.”

    Source Article from https://www.vox.com/2019/5/28/18642441/japan-trump-abe-biden-kim-missile

    Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old who was shot seven times by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer on Sunday, is shackled to his hospital bed despite being unable to walk and being heavily medicated, with no clarity on whether or why he might be under investigation, his father revealed on Friday.

    “There was the cold steel on his ankle. He is shackled to the bed, but he cannot get up, he could not get up, he is paralyzed,” Jacob Blake Sr, father of Jacob Blake Jr, said on CNN in an interview, describing a hospital visit he had with his son two days ago.

    “He grabbed my hands and began to weep and he told me that he was having hallucinations. He said ‘Daddy, Daddy, I love you. Why did they shoot me so many times?’ I said, ‘Baby, they were not supposed to shoot you at all,” Blake Sr said.

    He wept intermittently as he was giving the live interview on Friday morning.

    “I lay on the bed close to him. We talked about him being paralyzed from the waist down. He wanted a dog and I said, ‘We will get you a dog, Baby’.”

    Lawyers acting for the Blake family have said Jacob Blake has damaged spinal cord, spine, stomach, kidneys and liver, has lost most of his colon and has no bowel or genital function.

    Blake said he did not know why his son was shackled, saying: “I guess he is in custody, I don’t know.”

    The family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said: “There is no explanation for this.”

    The description of Blake’s condition by his father came after the fifth night of protests in Kenosha, which were peaceful on Thursday night for the second night after a fatal shooting when agitators attacked protesters on Tuesday night.

    Late on Tuesday, a 17-year-old gunman fatally shot two protesters and wounded another, police said. Before the slayings, some who did not appear to be linked to the main, peaceful protest groups engaged in looting.

    The Kenosha News reported that there were no incidents of fire or vandalism as of 10.30pm on Thursday.

    At Civic Center Park, some protesters sang along to religious music. Black Lives Activists of Kenosha, a major protest group, walked with flags to the sprawling local law enforcement complex. Several calmly spoke with two police officers to discuss the release of at least one detained demonstrator, the newspaper said.

    Although protests appear to have calmed, with fierce emotions but no violence, additional national guard members are expected to arrive in Kenosha on Friday.

    Wisconsin’s governor, Tony Evers, who first announced the deployment of state national guard members on Monday, has on several occasions authorized more troops. On Thursday, Evers said that national guard members from Alabama, Arizona and Michigan would be deployed to Kenosha, USA Today reported.

    As the ranks of national guards members are poised to increase, law enforcement response to protests – which has included some use of teargas and flash-bangs – has come under scrutiny.

    Activists have said that some demonstrators who were arrested in Kenosha this week were “snatched up” by federal law enforcement officers in unmarked vehicles, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. On Wednesday night, three area activists were arrested while walking to their vehicle, and then whisked away in an unmarked sports utility vehicle, organizers said.

    Video on social media appears to show law enforcement agents smashing the windows of a minivan with Oregon license plates and forcibly removing the people inside. Those people were subsequently driven away in an SUV.

    Police in Kenosha claimed that this group had been stopped after federal US Marshals spotted them allegedly filling gas cans at a gas station, reports said.

    Authorities claim that they used force because the driver didn’t stop when ordered to do so. These arrestees were part of the group Riot Kitchen, a Seattle-based non-profit that gives food to homeless persons and protesters, the newspaper said.

    Meanwhile, Kyle Rittenhouse – the teenager charged in relation to Tuesday’s deadly shootings – is expected to appear in an Illinois court on Friday.

    Rittenhouse, who surrendered to authorities in his home town of Antioch, Illinois, about 15 miles from Kenosha, is charged with six criminal counts in Kenosha, including first-degree intentional homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangerment.

    Rittenhouse, who will be defended by the law firm whose high-profile clients include Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and ex-adviser Carter Page, appears poised to claim self-defense in the shooting.

    Lin Wood, another lawyer defending Rittenhouse, reportedly said: “He was not there to create trouble, but he found himself with his life threatened, and he had the right to protect himself.”

    One man was killed while trying to disarm Rittenhouse after he had apparently earlier shot another demonstrator and appeared to be walking away while others attempted to give the victim first aid.

    On Friday, more details emerged about police involved in Blake’s shooting. The Wisconsin department of justice, which previously named Rusten Sheskey as the officer who shot Blake in the back, identified two more officers present during the encounter: Vincent Arenas and Brittany Meronek.

    The officers allege that Sheskey and Arenas used their Taser stun guns on Blake when their attempt “to stop” him during his arrest failed. Investigators said that Sheskey was the only officer who fired a weapon and that Blake had told the police he had a knife.

    “There is no explanation for this,” Crump, the family lawyer, said of the police shooting Blake and of the report of Blake being shackled in hospital. “It’s such an outrageous thing. That he was shot seven times, this adds insult to injury. It’s why we are marching in Washington DC today.”

    He was referring to the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks march, a protest demanding criminal justice reform that is expected to draw tens of thousands to Washington on Friday and coincides with the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in 1963 calling for racial equality.

    Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/28/jacob-blake-shackled-to-hospital-bed-father-says

    Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/03/politics/kamala-harris-2020-campaign/index.html

    Source Article from https://expo.cleveland.com/news/g66l-2019/04/6d0312c650133/cuyahoga-countys-population-drop-9th-worst-in-the-us-last-year-new-census-estimates-say.html

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    Maria Sharapova reconoció haber consumido como medicina una sustancia prohibida desde este año por la Agencia Mundial Antidopaje.

    La tenista rusa Maria Sharapova, de 28 años y ex número 1 de la Asociación del Tenis Femenino (WTA, por sus siglas en inglés), comunicó este lunes que dio positivo por dopaje en el primer Grand Slam del año.

    Sharapova dio positivo por el uso de meldonium, una sustancia que comentó toma desde 2006 y que sólo este año fue prohibida por la Agencia Mundial Antidopaje (AMA).

    La tenista aseguró no haber revisado la lista actualizada que le mandó la AMA el pasado 22 de diciembre.

    Como consecuencia, Sharapova ha sido provisionalmente suspendida a partir del 12 de marzo, a la espera de otras acciones que se puedan tomar en su contra.

    Además, ha perdido el respaldo de algunos de sus patrocinadores, como Nike.

    En una rueda de prensa convocada la víspera y cuyo anuncio desató todo tipo de especulaciones, Sharapova reconoció que dio positivo por drogas en el Abierto de Australia.

    “He decepcionado a mis aficionados”, dijo Sharapova.

    La tenista detalló que fue informada del positivo en una carta que le envió la Federacón Internacional de Tenis hace unos días.

    “Sé que muchos pensaron que anunciaría mi retiro pero no lo haría de esta manera en un hotel de Los Ángeles con esta alfombra bastante fea”.

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    Maria Sharapova y Serena Williams se han enfrentado en 21 ocasiones, con 19 victorias para Williams y 2 para Sharapova.

    Efectivamente, al conocerse la convocatoria de la rueda de prensa, muchos creyeron que Sharapova iba a anunciar su retiro del circuito profesional de tenis debido a las lesiones padecidas en los últimos años.

    Hace cinco días, su equipo comunicó la baja de la tenista en el torneo de Indian Wells, California, que comienza esta semana.

    Su último partido lo disputó contra Serena Williams en los cuartos de final del citado Abierto de Australia, donde perdió una vez más contra su eterna rival estadounidense.

    Pérdida de contratos

    Por lo pronto, la empresa deportiva estadounidense Nike anunció que rompe el contrato que tenía con la tenista.

    “Nos sorprenden y entristecen las noticias sobre Maria Sharapova. Hemos decidido suspender nuestra relación con Maria mientras la investigación proceda. Seguiremos monitorizando la situación”, informó la multinacional en un comunicado.

    Además, el fabricante de relojes Tag Heuer comunicó que no renovará su contrato con la tenista, que finalizaba en diciembre de este año

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    Nike, Tag Heuer y Porsche tomaron distancia de la tenista al conocerse la noticia de su positivo en dopaje.

    Y el fabricante de autos deportivos alemán Porsche, que firmó un contrato con Sharapova en 2013, suspendió los trabajos promocionales junto a ella.

    Por su parte, Serena Williams reaccionó ante la noticia y dijo que Sharapova mostró “valor y corazón” al asumir la responsabilidad por lo sucedido.

    “La mayoría de la gente se alegró de que fuera directa y honesta”, declaró Williams desde Nueva York, antes de disputar un partido contra la danesa Caroline Wozniacki.

    Wozniacki también habló sobre el tema: “Cada vez que tomas una medicina tienes que comprobar una, dos, tres, ¡hasta cuatro veces! porque incluso gotas para la tos o spray nasal pueden estar en la lista”.

    Medicina ahora prohibida

    La tenista señaló que toma meldonium por cuestiones de salud.

    “Empecé a tomar esta sustancia en 2006. Tenía varios problemas de salud en aquel momento“, precisó durante la rueda de prensa celebrada en Los Ángeles, California.

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    Las lesiones no le han dado tregua a la tenista rusa Maria Sharapova.

    “Enfermaba muy a menudo y tenía falta de magnesio, un historial familiar de diabetes y señales de que podía tener esta enfermedad. Esta fue una de las medicinas que me dieron, junto a otras”.

    Sin embargo, Sharapova no quiso eludir responsabilidades: “Más allá de los médicos y todo el equipo que me rodea, yo soy la responsable“.

    Talento precoz

    Maria Sharapova, conocida cariñosamente como Masha, nació en Rusia el 19 de abril de 1987 y actualmente tiene su residencia en Florida, Estados Unidos.

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    Pese a tener su residencia en Florida, EE.UU., Sharapova representa a Rusia en las competiciones internacionales.

    Debutó en el tenis profesional en 2001, con apenas 14 años, y pronto dejó ver su talento con la raqueta.

    Es la número 7 de la clasificación de la WTA, pero llegó a ser número 1 en distintas ocasiones, en total durante 21 semanas.

    Ganó cinco títulos individuales de Grand Slam: Wimbledon 2004, Abierto de Estados Unidos 2006, Abierto de Australia 2008 y el francés Roland Garros en 2012 y 2014. También se impuso en la Copa de Maestras de la WTA en 2004 y fue finalista en 2007 y 2012.

    En total ha conseguido 33 títulos individuales de la WTA. Por otra parte, fue medallista de plata en la prueba individual de tenis en los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres 2012.

    Wimbledon 2004

    Su victoria más emblemática fue la que obtuvo en junio de 2004, cuando logró su primer Grand Slam al imponerse a Serena Williams en Wimbledon por 6-1, 6-4.

    Sólo tenía 17 años y se convirtió en la primera jugadora rusa en ganar el prestigioso campeonato británico.

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    Wimbledon 2004 fue el primer Grand Slam para Maria Sharapova, que tenía 17 años.

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    La joven tenista rusa no podía creer que se había impuesto a la estadounidense Serena Williams.

    Ese mismo año, Sharapova derrotó una vez más en una competición importante a la estadounidense Serena Williams: fue en la final de la Copa de Maestras de la WTA el 15 de noviembre de 2004.

    Estas destacadas victorias ante la menor de las Williams son los únicos dos triunfos que conseguiría Sharapova frente a la estadounidense.

    En la histórica rivalidad entre ambas, Williams se ha impuesto en 19 ocasiones.

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    Sharapova derrotó a Williams en la final de la Copa de Maestras de la WTA en noviembre de 2004.

    De no haber coincidido en el tiempo con Serena Williams, posiblemente Sharapova tendría más trofeos en su vitrina.

    Grand Slam de carrera

    En 2006, Sharapova ganó su segundo Grand Slam al derrotar en la final del Abierto de Estados Unidos por 6-4, 6-4 a la belga y entonces número 2 del mundo Justine Henin.

    En 2008, ganó el primer Grand Slam del año tras vencer en la final del Abierto de Australia por 7-5, 6-3 a la serbia Ana Ivanovic.

    En 2012, obtuvo el título de Roland Garros al vencer a la italiana Sara Errani por 6-3, 6-2.

    Con esta victoria, Sharapova consiguió el llamado Grand Slam de Carrera, siendo junto a Serena Williams las únicas jugadoras en activo que lo han logrado.

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    Sharapova no disputa un partido oficial desde su derrota ante Williams en el Abierto de Australia.

    En 2014, se adjudicó su segundo título de Roland Garros, y el quinto Grand Slam de su carrera al vencer en la final a la rumana Simona Halep en tres sets por 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.

    Source Article from http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2016/03/160307_deportes_maria_sharapova_tenis_bd


    Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talk as they attend the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw on Feb 14. | Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images

    Foreign Policy

    Even as U.S. officials pressured European allies this week to break with Tehran, there was little indication the Islamist regime is worried about survival.

    02/14/2019 06:55 PM EST

    WARSAW — The Trump administration is warning Iran’s Islamist rulers that, after 40 years, their time in power is almost up. But the Iranian government is betting Trump will be gone first.

    Even as top Trump officials traveling in Europe this week threatened to hit Iran with more economic sanctions and pressured allies to break with Tehran, there was little indication that the country’s theocratic regime fears it is in mortal peril.

    Story Continued Below

    In fact, on the same day the Trump administration hosted a conference in Poland unofficially intended to rally global opposition against Tehran, Iran’s president was meeting his Russian and Turkish counterparts, in part to discuss new international financial mechanisms to evade U.S. sanctions.

    Meanwhile, in Poland, Trump’s closest aides and a top ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unfurled unexpected comments that likely left Iran with even more leverage and incentive to run out the clock on the Republican president.

    First, Netanyahu set off alarm bells with a tweet suggesting a coming “war” with Iran, undermining the administration’s effort to portray its Poland event as a peace conference. Then, Vice President Mike Pence went off script to demand that the Europeans quit the Iran nuclear deal, a call sure to be dismissed. It also did not go unnoticed that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, called for regime change in Iran at a separate gathering in Warsaw.

    The developments come as a flock of Democrats have launched White House bids, a probe into Trump’s 2016 campaign continues to encircle the president and Republicans wonder if Trump will face a primary challenge or even not run again.

    “Both sides are waiting and hoping for regime change in one another’s countries, but the clock in Washington is running faster than the clock in Tehran,” said Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst with the International Crisis Group.

    For now, Trump’s top advisers are certainly not willing to countenance the possibility that their boss may be a one-term president. Instead, the administration is doubling down on what it calls a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

    But the conference in Warsaw — which faced numerous stumbles, including boycotts by allies and crucial players in the Middle East — cast serious doubt that the pressure campaign would succeed anytime soon.

    For much of this week, the administration sought to capitalize on the 40th anniversary of the revolution that brought Islamists to power in Tehran. Trump himself sent out tweets in both Farsi and English slamming the regime.

    “40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure,” he tweeted on Monday. “The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future.”

    Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif replied with his own tweet, claiming the U.S. has shown “#40YearsofFailure to accept that Iranians will never return to submission.”

    National security adviser John Bolton released a video message attacking Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “You are responsible for terrorizing your own people and terrorizing the world as a whole,” Bolton said. “I don’t think you’ll have many more anniversaries to enjoy.”

    But despite its heated rhetoric, the Trump administration still insists it is not seeking to oust the Iranian regime. Instead, it said, the regime must change its behavior.

    Such assertions have proven tough to swallow for U.S. allies, especially Britain, France and Germany. The three countries have worked to preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in the months since Trump abandoned it. And on Thursday, Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, flatly rejected the idea of Europeans ditching the deal.

    “For us it is a matter of priority to keep implementing it at full,” Mogherini said.

    The Europeans have set up an economic mechanism called INSTEX that is designed to allow companies to do business with Iran without violating the U.S. sanctions Trump reimposed on the country after walking away from the nuclear deal. Under the deal, the Obama administration had rolled back economic sanctions in exchange for strict curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.

    Pence on Thursday slammed the financial work-around, calling it “an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the E.U. and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.”

    Supporters of the nuclear deal say its survival hinges on biding time — and especially on Tehran’s willingness to stick with the agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

    One ex-official who helped draft the deal said the Iranian government appears to be calibrating its approach by trying to gauge Trump’s political prospects.

    “Iran is driving this in the sense that I think Iran believes that if it looks like Trump is not going to be reelected maybe they should stay where they are, and then resurrect some form of the JCPOA,” the ex-official said. “If it looks like Trump is going to get reelected, then it’s a different ballgame. So I think they are trying to assess what their best posture is.”

    As evidence of Iran’s struggle to find the right balance, the ex-official pointed to threats last month by Iran nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi that Iran could enrich uranium up to 20 percent within four days — well above the 3.67 percent enrichment cap set in the JCPOA.

    The ex-official said such proclamations were a way for the Iranian government to answer hardliners, including those in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who are insisting their country should just abandon the deal in response to Trump’s withdrawal.

    Such threats, the ex-official said, are “a way for them to say to the IRGC, ‘We’re being tough. We’re … not going to get pushed around. We hold all the cards,’ while at the same time, not actually taking action that would abrogate the deal.”

    “Right now, the world is mad at the Trump administration, not mad at Iran,” the ex-official added. “If they start doing things that undercut the deal, then Iran becomes the bad guy quite quickly.”

    The Trump administration, too, has been trying to strike its own balance.

    It is warning the world that Iran — through its sponsorship of terrorism, its human rights violations, its ballistic missile program and its military activity in neighboring countries — is a menace that must be confronted.

    But it’s also trying to do so while insisting that Trump made the right move by walking away from what he deemed a terrible nuclear agreement. The latter is an argument that many U.S. allies don’t support.

    “For us, the implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran is a matter of European security … and we see it is working,” said Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, who skipped the Warsaw conference. “On other issues, we can work very closely together with the United States.”

    Tensions between the U.S. and other countries were on full display throughout the Warsaw conference this week.

    The gathering was originally designed to focus on Iran, but after it became clear many U.S. allies might not attend, the Trump administration sought to broaden the agenda to look at security and stability in the Middle East. Even then, many top European officials declined to participate.

    Poland, which has been trying to curry favor with Trump for a variety of reasons, was a conference co-host. But the country officially still supports the Iran nuclear deal. Polish diplomats repeatedly had to explain that stance, making for several awkward, tongue-tied moments.

    Netanyahu, perhaps America’s most staunch supporter in its anti-Iran campaign, raised eyebrows before leaving for Warsaw when declared “Iran” would be the focus of the event, contradicting U.S. claims. Once at the event, Netanyahu again startled with a tweet saying he looked forward to sitting with Arab leaders to “advance the common interest of war with Iran.” The tweet was later changed to say “combating” Iran, but Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, still lashed out at “Netanyahu’s illusions.”

    Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin was hosting a rival gathering with Iran President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, further adding to the sense that U.S. influence in the Middle East is eroding.

    At the Russian-hosted event in Sochi, Erdoğan, reportedly said that not only is Turkey willing to join the European’s INSTEX financial vehicle, but it may also create a bilateral mechanism to facilitate trade with Iran.

    Rouhani, for his part, tried to turn the tables by criticizing Washington. “While we are taking new steps for boosting stability in the region and fighting terrorism in Syria,” he said in a statement, “some who are sponsoring terrorists are hatching plots against the region in Warsaw.”

    The main message out of Sochi, however, seemed to be that these three countries — far more than the Americans — would determine the future of the Middle East.

    Back in Warsaw, Trump administration supporters stressed some of the strides made in holding the conference. For one thing, Israel’s leader was in the same space as a number of prominent Arab officials, all of whom have grown weary of Iran’s military assertiveness and other meddling throughout the Middle East.

    The conference also gave Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner a venue to discuss his efforts to craft a new peace deal for the Israelis and Palestinians. Kushner told officials that the plan will likely be unveiled after Israeli elections in April.

    Toward the end of the conference, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted that more than 60 countries sent representatives to the event.

    “No country, no country spoke out and denied any of the basic facts that we all had laid out about Iran — the threat it poses, the nature of the regime. It was unanimous,” he insisted.

    Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/14/iran-pompeo-netanyahu-warsaw-conference-1170719

    The Cook County sheriff’s office is questioning if a hospital violated state law by not immediately reporting that a woman who claimed to be the mother of a newborn had not given birth.

    The woman, Clarisa Figueroa, and her daughter, Desiree, were later charged with strangling the baby’s mother, Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, and cutting the newborn from her womb.

    At a bail hearing last week, prosecutors explained how the 46-year-old Figueroa was examined in a birthing center at Christ Medical Center on April 23 “but showed no signs consistent with a woman who had just delivered a baby.”

    A technician at the Oak Lawn hospital cleaned blood from Figueroa’s arms, face and hands, prosecutors said, but it was unclear if anyone verified that she had actually given birth.

    Figueroa was allegedly able to pass off the baby as her own for weeks.

    It wasn’t until May 9 that a “mandated reporter” — someone required to report suspected neglect or abuse — notified the Department of Child and Family Services about the newborn, DCFS spokesman Jassen Strokosch said. The child was then taken into protective custody.

    After a DNA test proved that the baby was actually that of Ochoa-Lopez’s husband, the agency let the 48-hour protective custody lapse, and the baby was turned over to his father, Strokosch said.


    Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. | Google Maps

    The sheriff’s office has asked DCFS why it was not notified sooner that Clarisa Figueroa claimed to have given birth but showed no signs of it.

    On Monday, the sheriff’s office said it will investigate the hospital if it finds the medical center violated the Abuse and Neglected Children Reporting Act.

    “We will consult with DCFS and if they determine the facts and circumstances of this tragedy were such that should have been reported by mandated reporters, we will ensure an investigation takes place,” sheriff’s office spokeswoman Cara Smith said in an email.

    In a statement, DCFS said it “will provide any support needed to the family in this case and to those handling any investigations into this matter.”

    There is currently no law or regulation to ensure a baby belongs to the person presenting the baby at a hospital.

    Hospital regulation falls under the purview of The Illinois Department of Public Health and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Strokosch said.

    A spokesman for Christ Medical Center said the hospital cannot comment due to patient privacy laws. The hospital is cooperating with local authorities, the spokesperson said.

    Clarisa Figueroa and her daughter are being held without bail in the murder of 19-year-old Ochoa-Lopez and cutting the baby out of her womb. The newborn is on life support and not expected to survive.

    Source Article from https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/5/20/18633516/cook-county-sheriff-christ-medical-hospitals-death-marlen-ochoa-lopez

    In this Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, a soldier walks with his family following a ceremony at Fort Hood, Texas, for soldiers from the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry 3rd Brigade, who returned home from deployment in Iraq.

    Erich Schlegel/AP


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    Erich Schlegel/AP

    In this Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, a soldier walks with his family following a ceremony at Fort Hood, Texas, for soldiers from the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry 3rd Brigade, who returned home from deployment in Iraq.

    Erich Schlegel/AP

    The U.S. Army issued a tweet ahead of Memorial Day weekend with a question for service members and veterans: “How has serving impacted you?”

    Among the thousands of responses: harrowing tales of trauma, depression and sexual assault.

    In a thread, an Army tweet that preceded the question featured a video by Pfc. Nathan Spencer, a scout with the Army’s First Infantry Division.

    In the video, Spencer says, “To serve something greater than myself. The Army’s afforded me the opportunity to do just that, to give to others, to protect the ones I love, and to better myself as a man and a warrior.”

    Soon after the U.S. Army tweeted its question, thousands of responses began flooding in. Many people tweeted about the positive impact military service had on their lives, but others posted stories of post-traumatic stress disorder, illness and suicide brought on by experiences ranging from seeing loss of life to sexual assaults in the military.

    One man responded, “How did serving impact me? Ask my family.” He wrote of a “Combat Cocktail” which included “PTSD, severe depression, anxiety. Isolation. Suicide attempts. Never ending rage.”

    Another person wrote, “After 15 years in I was kicked out after showing obviously signs of PTSD and depression. Now I can’t function in society because of my major depressive disorder. So now what?”

    Responses to the U.S. Army’s Twitter post now number more than 11,000.

    Many women responded with stories of sexual harassment and assault while serving in the military. One wrote of suffering from depression and anxiety, and said she “still can’t deal well with loud noises. I was assaulted by one of my superiors. When I reported him, with witnesses to corroborate my story, nothing happened to him. Nothing. A year later, he stole a laptop and was then demoted. I’m worth less than a laptop.”

    Another response: “My wife and I served in the @USArmy. We spent over 5 years geographically separated from each other. She was sexually assaulted on deployment and kicked out of the army for seeking treatment bc she was then deemed unfit for service. I got out bc her assaulters went unpunished.”

    Others wrote of loved ones, friends and relatives who had taken their own lives during or after their service in the military.

    One Twitter user wrote, “Some say this thread back-fired but this is just the thread that is needed each memorial day so we remember the sacrifices military members and their families make and how we as a country need to understand the true cost of service and improve our support.”

    The U.S. Army responded to the outpouring on May 25, tweeting: “To everyone who responded to this thread, thank you for sharing your story. Your stories are real, they matter, and they may help others in similar situations. The Army is committed to the health, safety, and well-being of our Soldiers.”

    In a separate tweet, it said: “As we honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice this weekend by remembering their service, we are also mindful of the fact that we have to take care of those who came back home with scars we can’t see.”

    On the same day, the Army also posted a tweet with a link and phone number for the Veterans Crisis Line.

    According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are approximately 20 million veterans in the U.S., and fewer than half receive VA benefits or services. The department says suicide rates among veterans are rising, and in 2016, the suicide rate was 1.5 times greater than for non-veteran adults. A VA report last year found more 6,000 veterans have died by suicide each year from 2008 to 2016.

    If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

    Veterans in need of help can access the Veterans Crisis Line by calling 800-273-8255 or through this website: http://https//www.veteranscrisisline.net

    Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/05/27/727254720/a-u-s-army-tweet-asking-how-has-serving-impacted-you-got-an-agonizing-response