News For Trend: April 2019

Tuesday, 30 April 2019

Word + Quiz: gravitas

By THE LEARNING NETWORK from NYT The Learning Network https://nyti.ms/2DFScht

Tesla Looks to Regain Its Luster in Solar Energy by Slashing Prices

By IVAN PENN and PETER EAVIS from NYT Business https://nyti.ms/2ZTw78S

Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio Tops the List of Hedge Fund Manager Compensation

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN from NYT Business https://nyti.ms/2Wf3Ln0

What’s on TV Tuesday: ‘On Tour With Asperger’s Are Us’ and ‘The Last Survivors’

By LAUREN MESSMAN from NYT Arts https://nyti.ms/2Lg9FU2

ためらう花嫁

By MOTOKO RICH from NYT World https://nyti.ms/2WcfdQo

Las principales noticias del martes

By Por MARINA FRANCO from NYT Universal https://nyti.ms/2GOKdPR

A Princess in a Cage

By MOTOKO RICH from NYT World https://nyti.ms/2La2tJ2

The Suitor With the Shaggy Hair

By MOTOKO RICH from NYT World https://nyti.ms/2GIKiVr

The Long Shadows of a Failed War

By MOTOKO RICH from NYT World https://nyti.ms/2UPwBJp

Trump Sues Banks to Stop Them From Complying With House Subpoenas

By MAGGIE HABERMAN, WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and DAVID ENRICH from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2GRQATZ

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to Step Down in May

By KATIE BENNER from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2WfbRw6

Man Charged With Killing 5 in Annapolis Newsroom Uses Insanity Defense

By MIHIR ZAVERI from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2XUcwmY

In Scranton, College Students Give High Marks to Biden’s First Campaign Speech

By TRIP GABRIEL from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2PEneLB

Sri Lanka, ISIS, British Police: Your Tuesday Briefing

By MELINA DELKIC and ALISHA HARIDASANI GUPTA from NYT Briefing https://nyti.ms/2GTm6kx

Message from witness to family of crane collapse victim: 'She wasn't alone' - KOMO News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2W9ss4m

Beto O'Rourke's campaign for climate socialism is deeply unserious - Washington Examiner

Beto O'Rourke's campaign for climate socialism is deeply unserious Washington Examiner
Beto: We only have ’10 years’ left on Earth if we don’t address climate change Fox News
O'Rourke releases plan to fight climate change with $5 trillion investment and net-zero emissions by 2050 CNN
Beto’s Green New Deal? Flagging in polls, O’Rourke unveils $5T climate change plan Fox News
Beto O’Rourke has a new climate plan. Here’s the right reason to dislike it. The Washington Post
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News https://washex.am/2DFG7ZE

Trump sends regards to Japan’s Emperor Akihito ahead of abdication - Fox News

Trump sends regards to Japan’s Emperor Akihito ahead of abdication Fox News
Japan's emperor is abdicating. Here's what you need to know. The Washington Post
Japan Will Enthrone a New Emperor. His Wife Won’t Be Allowed to Watch. The New York Times
Japan’s emperor is abdicating. He leaves behind a powerful legacy. The Washington Post
Japan police: Man put knives on desk of emperor's grandson Fox News
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News https://fxn.ws/2DGniWg

Decoding ISIS leader's new video - Washington Examiner

Decoding ISIS leader's new video Washington Examiner
ISIS Leader Baghdadi, Who Was Rumored to be Dead, Appears in Video and Admits Defeat in Syria Newsweek
ISIS Leader Al-Baghdadi Appears In Video For First Time In 5 Years | TIME TIME
ISIS leader al-Baghdadi pictured for first time since 2014, intel group says Fox News
Though Isis leader al-Baghdadi is alive, this poor strategist may not be a huge threat The Independent
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News https://washex.am/2WdiBuz

Exclusive: Blackwater founder’s latest sales pitch - mercenaries for Venezuela - Reuters

from Top stories - Google News https://reut.rs/2ZJk5ib

UN boss raises Xinjiang Uyghurs during his trip to China - CNN

from Top stories - Google News https://cnn.it/2UQW4Cl

Day Ahead: Top 3 Things to Watch By Investing.com - Investing.com

Day Ahead: Top 3 Things to Watch By Investing.com Investing.com
Cramer: Be wary of stocks that rally into earnings reports, like Google-parent Alphabet did CNBC
Alphabet stock drops after earnings show disappointing Google sales growth MarketWatch
Google Reminds Investors Rapid Growth Isn’t Guaranteed Bloomberg
Google's parent company now has more than 100,000 employees CNN
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2XSpXnr

Airline outages: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue experience IT issues - CBS News

from Top stories - Google News https://cbsn.ws/2GSBn59

Spotify Has 100 Million Paid Subscribers - Thurrott.com - Thurrott.com

Spotify Has 100 Million Paid Subscribers - Thurrott.com Thurrott.com
Spotify now has 100M paying subscribers, but it’s still losing money BGR
Spotify has 100 million Premium users Engadget
Spotify Reaches 100 Million Subscribers, but Not Without Some Dissonance The New York Times
Spotify now has 100M paid subscribers, double Apple Music’s last reported number 9to5Mac
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2ZS6THY

Western Digital stocks declines as earnings miss Street view - MarketWatch

Western Digital stocks declines as earnings miss Street view MarketWatch
Western Digital Shares Tank After Company Misses Earnings Badly TheStreet.com
Western Digital fiscal Q3 clocked by inventory writedown ZDNet
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News https://on.mktw.net/2GN6KN2

Apple nicked Intel's modem lead - Fudzilla

Apple nicked Intel's modem lead Fudzilla
The man who predicted Antennagate is no longer at Apple The Verge
Apple engineer in charge of 5G efforts exits following Intel hire, Qualcomm settlement 9to5Mac
Apple's 5G modem project lead Ruben Caballero has left the company AppleInsider
Who will be the king of the 5G chip market? Gizchina.com
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2DAGJzF

Apple Call Options Hot Ahead of Earnings - Schaeffers Research

Apple Call Options Hot Ahead of Earnings Schaeffers Research
Apple, Enough With the Slow-Ass Chargers Gizmodo
New leak reveals Apple’s final iPhone 11 Max design, and it’s much better than we thought BGR
Apple Insider Leaks Exciting New iPhone XR2 Design Forbes
Apple (AAPL) Q2 Earnings to Benefit From Non-iPhone Segments Nasdaq
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2LeGu3R

Samsung's latest patent shows phone with wraparound display - TechRadar

Samsung's latest patent shows phone with wraparound display TechRadar
Samsung imagines a wraparound smartphone display Engadget
Samsung Patents Wraparound Display That Aids in Photos and Selfies PetaPixel
Samsung's Wraparound Phone Design Is the Anti Galaxy Fold Tom's Guide
Samsung might be working on a new phone with a wrap-around display BGR
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2Lc9XLG

Simplified Start Menu on Windows 10 May 2019 Update doesn't completely skip the bloatware - OnMSFT

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2UPtNvM

‘Snowfall’: Filming On John Singleton’s FX Drama Series Continues As Cast & Crew Honor His Memory - Deadline

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2V5XsFQ

Woodstock 50 Has Been Canceled - erienewsnow.com

Woodstock 50 Has Been Canceled erienewsnow.com
Woodstock 50 Organizers ‘Committed’ to Festival After Losing Financial Backing Rolling Stone
Woodstock 50 Canceled By Its Investors NPR
Woodstock Organizers Cancel 50th Anniversary Festival Billboard
Woodstock 50 canceled? Organizers say festival will be a 'blast' Poughkeepsie Journal
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2IPpsHp

Prince William and Kate Middleton Celebrate Their 8 Year Anniversary Despite Those Cheating Rumors - The Cheat Sheet

Prince William and Kate Middleton Celebrate Their 8 Year Anniversary Despite Those Cheating Rumors The Cheat Sheet

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge celebrated eight years of wedded bliss and pointedly ignored the cheating rumors.

View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2V2nQQY

Khloe Kardashian Says She'd Be 'Insecure' If She Was Sofia Richie After Scott Disick Discovers His 'Soulmate' - Entertainment Tonight

Khloe Kardashian Says She'd Be 'Insecure' If She Was Sofia Richie After Scott Disick Discovers His 'Soulmate' Entertainment Tonight

On the latest episode of 'KUWTK,' a spiritual healer tells exes Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick that they are 'soulmates.'

View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News https://et.tv/2XY2gub

Arizona Cardinals agree to terms with rookie free agent class - Revenge of the Birds

Arizona Cardinals agree to terms with rookie free agent class Revenge of the Birds
2019 NFL draft -- Biggest post-draft questions for all 32 teams ESPN
Kyler Murray, A Black Man, Was The #1 NFL Draft Pick, Trump Congratulated The #2 Pick Instead | TIME TIME
Opinion: One pressing post-draft question for each of the 32 NFL teams USA TODAY
Steve Keim: I’m not scared to make a mistake NBC Sports
View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2GRPebZ

Western Conference's Best Assists of the First Round | 2019 Playoffs - NBA

from Top stories - Google News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f92HUkz4tmQ

Dolphins GM Chris Grier indicates the Josh Rosen trade doesn't mean Miami can't draft a QB next year - CBS Sports

Dolphins GM Chris Grier indicates the Josh Rosen trade doesn't mean Miami can't draft a QB next year CBS Sports

With Rosen playing under his cheap rookie deal, the Dolphins could always bring in another QB in 2020.

View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News http://bit.ly/2vuOCCm

The Problem Isn’t Twitter. It’s That You Care About Twitter.

Ever since Donald Trump made Twitter his preferred medium for communicating with the country, the platform has taken an outsize hold on the American imagination. Once a forum on which users could discuss the day’s news, Twitter now just as often sets the day’s agenda.

Being active on Twitter has practically become part of the job description for some of the most influential people in the country. Any politician, journalist, or CEO who does not engage with social media gives up a precious chance to shape the conversation. And any public or semipublic figure who fails to monitor what is happening on the platform risks missing attacks or accusations that can quickly find their way into the headlines of national newspapers and the chyrons of cable-news shows.

Obligation breeds habit and habit addiction. The most active Twitter users I know check the platform as soon as they wake up to see what they missed. Throughout the day, they seize on the little interstices of time they have available to them—on the way to work, or in between meetings—to follow each new development in that day’s controversies. Even in the evening, when they are settling down to dinner, they cheer attacks against their enemies, or quietly fume over the mean tweet some anonymous user sent their way. Minutes before they finally drift off to sleep, they check their notifications one last time.

It is not the mental health of Twitter addicts that most concerns me, though; it is the well-being of the nation they collectively rule. To decision makers who spend most of their days ensconced in an elite bubble, Twitter can seem like a way out, a clear window into pure public opinion. In reality, it’s an extreme distortion.

Each week seems to throw up another example of organizations capitulating to outrage mobs on social media, whether they originate on the left or the right. In the past year, CNN fired Marc Lamont Hill for controversial remarks about Israel and Disney dismissed (and then rehired) James Gunn over offensive jokes he tweeted a decade ago—in both cases due in part to anger on Twitter.

But while the best-known cases of social media influencing large institutions involve famous celebrities losing their jobs, the sway is just as strong in shaping the implicit assumptions and priorities of the country’s political class. The vast gulf between the great importance pundits ascribed to the Mueller investigation and the apparent disinterest with which most Americans have greeted its findings is Exhibit A.

Judging by the conventional wisdom on Twitter, the publication of the Mueller report should have been the defining event of the Trump presidency. If Mueller found Donald Trump guilty of obstruction of justice, the president’s approval ratings would tank. Conversely, if Mueller exonerated Trump, there would be a broad backlash against Democrats; Trump would then be well on his way to reelection in 2020.

Instead, the most anticipated news event of the year has barely left a trace in public opinion. According to Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, the government shutdown, which affected the lives of millions of Americans, had a clear and immediate impact on Trump’s popularity; the Mueller report did not. In fact, 42 percent of people approved of Trump at the beginning of March, before Mueller delivered his report to Attorney General William Barr, and 42 percent approved of Trump at the beginning of April, after Barr released a summary of the report that seemed to exonerate Trump. Now that much of the report is public, the number stands at, yes, 42 percent.

According to just about every study that has been conducted on the question, Twitter is not representative in the slightest. The Pew Research Center, for example, has found that less than a quarter of Americans log on to Twitter with any regularity. And as The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal points out, those regular users differ from the wider population: “In the United States, Twitter users are statistically younger, wealthier, and more politically liberal than the general population.”

Politics Twitter is a bubble in itself. Among the minority of Americans who regularly use Twitter, a majority never tweet about politics. According to a 2016 study, fewer than one in five active Twitter users—which is to say about one in 20 Americans—report posting about politics “some” or “a lot” of the time.

According to a recent analysis by The New York Times, left-leaning Twitter users who regularly post about politics are richer, better educated, and less diverse than the Democratic Party as a whole. In fact, Twitter Democrats are about 50 percent more likely to have a college degree than the average Democratic voter, but only about half as likely to be African American. Among the overall Democratic electorate, less than 50 percent consider themselves liberal, as opposed to moderate or conservative. Among Democrats on Twitter, more than 70 percent do.

One study surveying the evidence for who talks about politics on Twitter, by Pablo Barberá of New York University and Gonzalo Rivero of YouGov, found that “users participating in the political discussion were mostly men, living in urban areas, and with strong ideological preferences.” Another study, by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the National University of Singapore, came to an even starker conclusion: “Only self-reported extremists appear to devote much of their Twitter activity to politics.”

Social scientists have known for decades that the most politically active citizens are highly unrepresentative of the population as a whole. On average, citizens are more politically engaged the more affluent, educated, and powerful they are. “The heavenly chorus” of those who write letters to their local newspaper, attend PTA meetings, or ring up their senator, the political scientist Elmer Eric Schattschneider once wrote, “sings with a strong upper-class accent.”

For that reason, key social and political institutions are always in danger of being captured by their loudest and most resourceful constituents. Small but highly ideological factions have repeatedly taken over political parties. On college campuses, radical students have had a greater influence than their more moderate classmates.

Even so, the outsize influence that small, unrepresentative groups now exert via Twitter is a particular source of concern. Until the advent of social media, decision makers were only confronted with their angriest detractors on specific occasions—at town halls, say, or on the Letters page in newspapers—for which they could mentally brace themselves. And when they faced the local teachers’ union or chamber of commerce, they were well aware that it represented a particular slice of their electorate.

Twitter is different in two key ways. Because it allows anybody to speak up, leaders of political and cultural institutions seem prone to believe that the views they encounter there are representative of the “general public.” And because so many influential people check their Twitter notifications dozens of times a day, the opinions they see there become the constant soundtrack of their life. When deciding what to think or how to act, leaders may find it harder to tune out angry professions of outrage on Twitter than the “heavenly chorus” of yore.

“When you’re on Twitter, every controversy feels like it’s at the same level of importance,” one influential Democratic strategist told me. Over time, he found it more and more difficult to tune Twitter out: “People whose perception of reality is shaped by Twitter live in a different world and a different country than those off Twitter.” (I granted the strategist anonymity in exchange for candor.)

If elected representatives treat Twitter as representative of public opinion, they will fail to be responsive to the actual views of their constituents; political journalists will obsess over scandals and debates that don’t interest most of their readers; and political campaigns may lose eminently winnable elections.

President Trump is a case in point. He has rightly intuited that a significant portion of the American population is anxious about the influx of immigrants in the country illegally. But egged on by his die-hard fans—who ensure that his tweets about immigration are especially popular, with many of them attracting more than 100,000 likes—he has embraced policies, such as separating children from their parents, that are rejected by a vast majority of Americans.

Trump’s likely Democratic opponents fare no better. They are right about the fact that most Americans would like a strong public option for their health insurance. But, encouraged by activists on Twitter, some have brushed away concerns about what Medicare for All would mean for existing insurance plans—even though polls suggest that a clear majority of Americans do not want to lose what they already have.

To win the White House in 2020, presidential candidates will need to both win over swing voters whose views diverge from those of their party’s base and mobilize like-minded supporters who rarely think (much less opine) about politics. Paying less attention to Twitter may be the key to both.

America’s political class now lives in a bubble that has been made more, rather than less, impenetrable by the technological changes of the past years. Instead of connecting America’s elites to ordinary people, Twitter has amplified the beliefs of a small band of hyper-political partisans.

The solution to this problem is a lot more straightforward and achievable than much of the hand-wringing commentary about social media would suggest: It is for political leaders—and everyone else—to keep Twitter in perspective. What’s dangerous to democracy is not the existence of a forum in which extremists can talk to, and shout at, one another—it’s the possibility that decision makers will confuse the forum for the real world, and in so doing allow extremists to shape real-world culture.

A few months ago, I started to notice just how bad an influence Twitter was having on my grasp on reality, my productivity, and my serenity. For a brief period, I considered quitting Twitter. But that didn’t seem like the right solution. For one, I like sharing my work and my views with my followers. For another, I doubted my resolve: Over the past years, I’ve seen too many writers make grandiose announcements about quitting Twitter—only to rejoin the platform a few weeks, or days, after their departure.

Instead, I opted for a more modest solution: While I still access Twitter from my desktop from time to time, I have deleted the app from my phone, and stopped it from sending any notifications to my email account. It’s faintly ridiculous just how much my quality of life has improved as a result. I now know much less about the latest controversy—but have much more time to read that book I’ve been meaning to turn to for ages. I miss out on a few good jokes or interesting links—but have started to detox from the feverish anger that reigns supreme on the hyper-political corners of the Twitterverse.

The Democratic strategist who described Twitter as a “different world” recently quit the service. And he feels the same way as I do: “Instead of retweeting pundits, I’ve started watching candidates doing speeches and town halls. It’s made me a better political strategist—not to mention a better friend, a better boyfriend, and a better human being.”

If the most influential people in the country would follow his lead, we might just wind up with a better country.

from The Atlantic http://bit.ly/2ZMcfVd

India’s Supreme Court Is Teetering on the Edge

NEW DELHI—India has seen an autocratic ruler once before.

In 1973, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi passed over three senior judges to appoint a pliant contender as the chief justice of India’s Supreme Court. Two years later, after a high court barred her from holding office because of election irregularities, she declared a national emergency. Civil liberties were suspended, and her political opposition jailed. When her decrees came before the Supreme Court, a bench of five justices, led by her appointee, sided with her. The emergency lasted for 21 months.

That period has a newfound resonance in India these days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is running for reelection in ongoing polls, has spent his first term centralizing power while debasing the institutions that were supposed to curb such impulses. The autonomy of educational, legislative, economic, and investigative bodies—not very lofty to begin with—has gone into a downward spiral. Like great clouds, questions have gathered over the autonomy of the Supreme Court, and the office of the chief justice is going through its darkest hour since India’s independence.

For international readers, this may seem incongruous with how the country’s Supreme Court is often characterized. India’s top judges have won accolades for progressive judgments—declaring privacy a fundamental right, for instance, or striking down a colonial-era law that criminalized homosexuality. Yet here in India, concerns have been growing over the Supreme Court’s independence, with a long-running saga over judicial corruption only being amplified by worries over Modi’s authoritarian tendencies. There are worries the court is verging on the point of no return.

[Read: Narendra Modi’s election challenge: Create jobs. Lots of them.]

Modi had sought to refashion the judiciary almost from the outset of his premiership. A remodeling of the structure of the courts was included in his Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto in the run-up to the 2014 general election. Yet even with the sweeping mandate with which Modi came to power—his party was the first in 30 years to secure a parliamentary majority on its own—this was not going to be easy.

The principal barrier was the Supreme Court itself. Having been a willing party to Gandhi’s subversion of democratic institutions, the court had an image to rebuild. It did so gradually, expanding the purview of the judiciary in the legislative sphere and minimizing the role of the executive in the process of judicial appointments. Then, in 1993, it ruled that only sitting judges would be able to appoint new members of the judiciary. It was a coup of sorts. India’s founding fathers were cautious not to entrust senior judicial appointments with just one branch of the government. The constitution required the judiciary and the executive to work in consultation while appointing judges. But by the 1990s, the stain of corruption and other criminality had attached itself to politicians of all hues, and the idea of removing their influence from the judicial domain didn’t seem half bad.

The first significant legislation Modi’s government passed was a constitutional amendment to set up a body, including the federal law minister, that would oversee all appointments to the top ranks of the judiciary. In less than a year, the amendment was passed in both houses of Parliament, ratified by the requisite 17 state legislatures, and signed by the president to become law.

The backlash was swift: A clutch of petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the amendment, and in October 2015, the court declared that the new rules were unconstitutional and void. The judgment seemed to show that the court had learned its lesson from its interactions with Gandhi, and was prepared to tame the tendencies of a majoritarian government.

But then those efforts began to unravel. In early 2017, a suicide note allegedly written by a former chief minister of the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh was circulated on WhatsApp. It claimed that the sons of two sitting Supreme Court judges, Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice Dipak Misra, were seeking bribes to predetermine cases their fathers presided over. Though there was no corroborating evidence, the damage was done. When the matter came to the Supreme Court, a lawyer pressing for a full investigation alleged that a retired judge claiming to speak on Khehar’s behalf had approached him outside the court.

More claims followed against Misra, who would succeed Khehar as chief justice. The Central Bureau of Investigation, India’s top policing authority, arrested a retired judge from the high court where Misra had worked, alleging the retiree had tried to fix cases Misra was hearing in the Supreme Court. A colleague of Misra’s from his days as a lawyer detailed his long history of financial misdemeanors in an article I reported for The Caravan. Opposition parties proposed an impeachment motion against Misra, but the government refused to entertain it, and neither Khehar nor Misra recused himself from cases the Supreme Court was hearing in which the two were implicated. Soon after, ties between the government and the court would be brought into question.

One morning in January 2018, four Supreme Court justices called a press conference. It is hard to overstate what an astonishing sight this was: Over the course of seven decades since independence, the highest level of India’s judiciary had cordoned itself off from the public eye, battling any oversight into its affairs, including from the media. Now, sitting before a beehive of cameras, the justices looked distressed.

“All four of us are convinced,” Justice Jasti Chelameswar said, “that unless this institution is preserved and it maintains its equanimity, democracy will not survive in this country.”

“For some time, the administration of the Supreme Court is not in order,” he continued, adding that there were “many things which are less than desirable which have happened in the last few months.”

[Read: Misinformation is endangering India’s election]

It was ominous and alarming, but the judges did not spell out what exactly was endangering the Supreme Court. They seemed to be blaming Misra, but their only specific argument was that he had been allocating cases to specific benches arbitrarily. Soon after, Prashant Bhushan, a senior lawyer and judicial activist, alleged that the government was blackmailing Misra. “Politically sensitive cases are being assigned to handpicked benches, with no senior judge on them, so that the desired outcomes are achieved,” Bhushan said. “The chief justice is clearly working under the government’s pressure.”

The claims garnered little media coverage, and the government refused to respond to them. Few were shocked—sitting and retired judges, as well as members of the bar, had been saying the same thing in hushed voices for a while.

Before we assign guilt or apportion blame, a critical question must be considered: How did the Indian judiciary, after locking politicians out of its domain for 25 years, find itself in such a position at all?

While the court was scrambling to consolidate its hold over judicial appointments in the 1990s, there were other, more insidious problems: of corruption within its ranks, and the unwillingness of the legal community to grapple with it.

In 1990, K. K. Venugopal, then a senior lawyer who is now India’s attorney general, told a journalist, “The subject of judicial corruption is taboo, and like the proverbial Chinese monkeys, one shall not see, hear, or speak of this evil.” At the time, the first-ever impeachment proceedings against a Supreme Court justice, on financial-misdemeanor charges, were already under way.

The 1993 ruling that safeguarded the court from outsiders, however, ensured opacity for the Supreme Court. The politics of the time did not allow for a constitutional amendment to neutralize that judgment. Successive coalition governments were consumed with keeping themselves together, and while charges of judicial corruption kept surfacing, they never gathered momentum. The media, cowed by contempt laws, did not press for more information. Journalists offer judges in India even more deference than they do politicians and business leaders, and few newspapers have printed even cursory reports about judicial corruption over the past two decades. Senior lawyers, continuing the tradition so succinctly described by Venugopal, are still not willing to see, hear, or speak of the evil.

Over the years, the scale of the problem has become staggering. In 2010, Bhushan’s father, Shanti—who, as the law minister in the government that dethroned Indira Gandhi in 1977, had been a key force in repealing many of her draconian decrees—submitted to the Supreme Court, in a sealed document, the names of eight chief justices who he claimed were “definitely corrupt.” His efforts went no further, though he now faces a contempt case of his own.

Misra was succeeded as chief justice in October by Ranjan Gogoi, who was among the four judges to have appeared at last year’s press conference. But Gogoi, too, has thus far failed to bring the transparency that was expected of him in deciding cases of political import, and last month, a former Supreme Court justice made allegations of corruption against Gogoi’s relatives. (Last week, a former court employee wrote, in a sworn affidavit, that she had been sexually harassed by Gogoi and that her family was facing persecution for her having refused his advances.) Major media outlets did not even print, let alone pursue, the corruption charges. No inquiry has been opened into judicial corruption or independence, and the government has not been pressed on any links it has had to the courts.

In the five years of Modi’s rule, almost every single Indian institution has been shaken to its core. The fissures are showing, most worryingly, in the judicial edifice. Even if Modi is voted out in these elections, the vulnerabilities he has exposed will remain for his successors to exploit.

from The Atlantic http://bit.ly/2GRC12I

The Long Night Finally Arrives on Game of Thrones

Every week for the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, three Atlantic staffers will be discussing new episodes of the HBO drama. Because no screeners were made available to critics in advance this year, we’ll be posting our thoughts in installments.

David Sims: After eight years of buildup, with promises of zombie swarms and ice dragons, it can finally be said: The Night King is a real bore. A party pooper to the extreme. I’m glad he’s dead! Season after season of Game of Thrones has passed with the frost-faced White Walker silently promising doom for the denizens of Westeros. After all that, it took only one epic episode, “The Long Night,” to dash all his plans and turn him and his dramatically inert army into a pile of snowflakes. Now I’m here to dance on the Night King’s grave.

For the past two episodes, I have pleaded for the show to get the White Walkers out of the way so that viewers can return to the more important stuff—Westerosi politicking and grand romantic tension, the twin pillars that have held up Game of Thrones for nearly a decade. The problem, of course, was that the teeming wave of death from above the Wall couldn’t be easily batted away: It was part of the show’s very first set piece, and more often than not has been relied on for a cliffhanger at the end of a season. So David Benioff and D. B. Weiss had to put audiences through the wringer of yet another massive battle episode, similar to editions such as “Blackwater,” “The Watchers on the Wall,” “Hardhome,” and “Battle of the Bastards.”

“The Long Night” was directed by Miguel Sapochnik, who also helmed “Hardhome” and “Battle of the Bastards,” and it was filled with all his favorite visual flourishes. There were long tracking shots that staked out the location of every character before chaos arrived at the walls of Winterfell, plenty of shaky naturalism once the violence began, and, of course, darkness. Lots and lots of darkness. That the Night King fights at night is hardly surprising, I suppose, but as a result the action was mostly choppy and unsatisfying. Less was always more: The opening sequence involving the Dothraki charge into total darkness was gripping and clear. Once the horde of corpses arrived, though, my brain quickly turned off.

Hence my main point: The Night King is dull as dishwater. The comparison between his army of death and the looming threat of environmental catastrophe might feel facile, but in the end that’s all it really amounted to. The White Walkers were a means to unite ice and fire—Jon and Daenerys—and build an alliance in the North in order to sort out all the lingering conflict in the South. They served no plot purpose other than to threaten to bring about the apocalypse, and the only thing more boring, story-wise, than defeating the Night King would have been letting him win and cover the world in mute zombies.

The manner of his offing—death from above by Arya, wielding the Valyrian-steel dagger an assassin tried to murder Bran with way back in Season 1—was undeniably cool. I was a little let down, though, that Arya didn’t get to use her specific skills more (why not have her disguise herself as a White Walker?), but as far as dei ex machina go, it’s hard to argue with the pint-size killer Stark. Her supposed rulers, Daenerys and Jon, were by and large duds throughout the conflict, zooming around the sky on their dragons, unable to see most of the action. Bran, meanwhile, did little more than warg into a flock of ravens to alert the Night King to his presence.

But then, that was Bran’s apparent purpose in this Deathbowl: to sit tight and draw the Night King close so that Arya could get a clean shot at him. Melisandre’s return to Winterfell suggested that the final outcome had been preordained, much like some of the episode’s big deaths (Beric and Theon, along with Jorah, Edd, and little Lyanna Mormont). Melisandre even brought up a prophecy from Season 3, when she referred to Arya killing someone with brown eyes (the long-departed Lord Frey), blue eyes (the Night King), and … green eyes. Could the latter be Cersei?

Who knows. As the dust settles in Winterfell, major characters will mostly be happy to be alive, but they might quickly get to pointing fingers over what a disaster this battle was. Fighting an army of the dead is never easy, but Daenerys and Jon’s output was so pitiful here that I worry their alliance might not make it to the final conflict with Cersei. Either way, I’m glad the story can make its way south again, where the sun shines and the action is a little easier to follow. Spencer and Lenika, did you hope for more from the Battle of Winterfell?

Spencer Kornhaber: I’m satisfied, but my eyes need a rest. No one predicted this twist: HBO spent millions of dollars on weeks of muddy stunt work only to have some production assistant drape Lady Olenna’s delicate muslin veils over the cameras. The scenery already looked as dark as a Goya painting at the start of the episode, but when the (rather unexplained) ice storm blew in, I had to scurry from the couch to the floor, inches from the TV, so as to try to make out the action. A Thrones episode had become a Cocteau Twins music video, all blurred and strobe-lit.

Which wasn’t totally a bad thing. It makes some sense to swamp viewers in the same fog of war that the characters were in. Though frustrating at times, the haze was an example of Benioff, Weiss, and Sapochnik’s smart aesthetic riffing. Eight seasons into Thrones, castle battles are getting boring. Nine years into The Walking Dead, so are zombie hordes. But this edition of slash-and-hacking skeletons was broken into distinct sensory chapters: the eerie absences of the first approach, the psychedelic blizzard that followed, the dragon riders gorgeously zipping above the clouds to a whole new world, Arya’s quiet Resident Evil level in the library, and a dramatic music video for the composer Ramin Djawadi’s second big piano piece of the series. The visual variability helped make “The Long Night” one of Thrones’s few front-to-back riveting episodes.

Moreover, each scene tended to nicely tie together long-running story elements—the ice, the fire, the strange fact that Dolorous Edd hadn’t fulfilled his destiny as an expendable till now. After having the Unsullied’s awesomeness told more than shown in Daenerys’s interminable adventures in Essos, I felt a weird pang of pride seeing the spearmen hold the line against the dead when other regiments were routed. But it was Arya’s slayage that offered the most payoff. Though we’ve seen her shut many an opponent’s eye previously, her hail of staff-whirls and well-timed stabs nearly justified all those mopping scenes at the House of Black and White in Season 5. She felt like the right character to fell the Night King, because she was the one who had trained for this moment the most. She had faced death to face death.

It must be said, though, that much of the episode’s tension was bound up with nonsense worth yelling at the screen about. Jon and Dany getting lost when they should have been roasting wights: just baffling. Grey Worm’s flaming trench appeared to be a decent delayer of the dead, but why didn’t the soldiers build more than just one of them? Why weren’t there vats of burning coal on the ramparts? Why did everyone seem so surprised to see the newly dead rise mid-battle when they’d presumably been informed that was the Night King’s big trick? It was good Bran sent out ravens amid the carnage, but that also highlighted just how little scouting the Winterfell forces had done before the apocalypse was at their doorstep.

Then again, Thrones gave up its claim to much realism a few seasons back. This is thoroughly TV for TV’s sake now, and tonight it resulted in something fun and freaky—and oddly gentle to the characters. Last week’s host of farewells prepped viewers to assume the body count would be savage, yet at the end of the fight, seeming goners such as Tormund and Podrick still live. The deaths that did happen—each featuring drawn-out final gasps, slo-mo, and/or weepy music—were treated as bigger deals for the viewer than they probably needed to be. (Just how many scenes have we previously seen of Theon redemption? Did anyone request another?) The one exception was the squishing of Lyanna Mormont in an excellently callous dispatching of a fan favorite, which is the sort of gasp trigger that was once key to Thrones’s appeal.

The conclusion of the episode made for a different class of surprise: It’s more like Hollywood than like George R. R. Martin for the Night King’s horde to be zapped all at once. I agree, David, that Cersei-related intrigue makes for the real fun of this show, but Thrones has just spent so much time over the years on the subject of White Walkers. The march of the dead had long felt like a pesky side plot that surely would amount to something profound—but now it really does appear that the undead were mere minibosses the characters needed to kill before the final evil. Which is just deflating.

Nailing a post–Night King ending for the show will mean clearly conveying what the contenders for the Iron Throne stand for beyond their own bloodlines. The dragons, damaged as they were tonight, should play less of a role than before. That the episode ended with Melisandre evaporating may have seemed strange—hers was not the most anticipated death of the evening—except when you consider the implications. The gods have had their fight. An age of magic is drawing to a close. We’re left with the living, and there’s something scary in that, too.

Lenika Cruz: I think “The Long Night” is an episode Thrones fans will argue about forever. There was a lot to love, including some mesmerizing sequences from Miguel Sapochnik (who also directed the show’s best installment, “The Winds of Winter”) and a smattering of beautifully tender moments (like the ones shared between Tyrion and Sansa). The first half of the episode really tapped into a sickening current of dread and demonstrated some of the most effective uses of silence in the entire series.

Though I was gripped by much of the episode—convinced that the so-called plot armor was off for everyone and that literally anything could happen—I started getting frustrated the more I saw important characters escape from impossibly close-call encounters, again and again. (As soon as Edd saved Sam, I was like, “That means Edd’s going to die right now” and then, yep, a sword went through his face.) The rest of “The Long Night” saw friends conveniently saving friends and nearly all of our favorites managing to fight off waves of shrieking zombies while no-names perished in droves. So much for suspense. Eventually, given how dark and blurry everything was, I just had to trust that if someone important was going to die, Thrones would at least make sure their face was well lit. Indeed, everyone significant who fell got a heroic, clearly visible send-off—except for the poor Dothraki in the vanguard.

I think the degree to which you are satisfied or unsatisfied with this episode depends in large part on what kind of show you believe Game of Thrones to be—or at least what kind of show you want it to be. How much do you want it to continue to subvert expectations, to twist your stomach with an unthinkable death or reversal of fortune? How much do you believe the show values backroom politicking over more abstract environmental threats or spiritual conflicts guided by the invisible hands of the gods? After all the seasons of suffering, do you just want the supposed “heroes”—the “good guys”—to win? (The fact that I found myself seized by the desire to see stupid Jon get swarmed by wights and turned into a White Walker or something tells you something about my own sensibilities.)

“The Long Night” left me with mixed feelings that leaned toward disappointment and some confusion. On the one hand, I’m very open to the show getting back to the old power plays by people who don’t just want to annihilate the whole world. On the other hand, I’m deeply skeptical about how good the plotting and dialogue will be if Thrones fully goes that route. I worry that to be excited about that prospect is to believe the show can recapture the magic of its earlier seasons—a magic that I think is gone for good. While I agree, David, that the Night King was such a blank, simplistic villain, part of me was hoping this episode was going to reveal some surprising new dimension to what his grand plans might mean for the fate of Westeros.

And, David, I know you’re delighted about the Night King being gone for good and are happy to forget he existed if it means getting to the good stuff in King’s Landing. But … I can’t forget! I’m with Spencer on this one: I can’t ignore the years of being told this epic war between the living and the dead was the true conflict that superseded petty squabbles about who got to wear the fancy crown and be called “Your Grace.”

These past few seasons, Thrones was so successful at getting me to reconsider what the real stakes of its central story might be, so I feel a little betrayed after having the White Walker arc resolved so neatly (at least as far as we know). Was the Night King really only an excuse to get Dany and Jon together, to unite ice and fire? Perhaps I’d be okay with that if this royal pairing weren’t so unbearably dull. And maybe I’d be more excited about the action moving back south if Cersei currently felt like a compelling arch-nemesis for the show’s final act to be built around. Right now the very fascinating people in her orbit include Qyburn, Euron Greyjoy, (checks notes) Captain Strickland of the Golden Company, and precisely zero elephants.

It’s either a testament to a portion of Thrones fandom or a criticism of the show (or both) that most of the theories floating around—that Bran is the Night King, that the Night King would instead fly down and wreak havoc on King’s Landing—were more groundbreaking than what ended up happening.

Yes, Lyanna Mormont died a very cool and meaningful death. Yes, Jorah and Theon both redeemed themselves (again), this time by dying to save the ones they had betrayed years ago. Yes, Beric and Melisandre finally got some long-deserved rest, and the Night King got fatally shanked by the Faceless Men University’s most accomplished dropout, Arya Stark. But none of these losses hit me especially hard—or in a way that would have justified the gravity that the Battle of Winterfell had been freighted with. It might be odd to say this, but at the moment I’m having a tough time caring about who will rule the Seven Kingdoms, if that’s indeed the end game here. Maybe I’ll need to do a full rewatch of “The Long Night” and reassess. For now I’m just hoping that over the next three weeks, Game of Thrones can wind to a conclusion that honors the narrative and emotional heights it reached in its earlier seasons.

from The Atlantic http://bit.ly/2ZKPkJw

From the Archives: ‘Moccasin Flowers,’ a Poem by Mary Oliver

The Complicated Friendship of Robert Mueller and William Barr

When Attorney General William Barr released Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report earlier this month, he was presenting the work of a widely respected former FBI director and federal prosecutor—who happens to be his longtime friend. As Barr himself revealed to lawmakers at his Senate confirmation hearing in January, the two men have had a relationship for years. Their families socialize together, their wives attend Bible study together, and the Muellers were guests at the weddings of Barr’s daughters.

But Barr’s handling of Mueller’s report has cast their relationship in a more adversarial light, and it will be tested further in the coming weeks as Democrats seek separate testimony from both men on the central decisions they made at the culmination of Mueller’s two-year investigation of President Donald Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election. Barr will appear separately before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on Wednesday and Thursday, with Mueller potentially following later in May.

Former close associates of Mueller see the attorney general’s characterization of his findings—which was generally more favorable to Trump than the report itself—as undercutting the special counsel, if not an outright betrayal. They were particularly put off by Barr’s performance at the press conference he held 90 minutes before releasing the report, which they similarly saw as overly deferential to Trump.

Mueller did not attend, and the attorney general said he didn’t talk to Mueller about his decision to clear Trump of obstruction. “That’s not two friends collaborating collegially on a project,” said Frank Figliuzzi, a former counterintelligence chief at the FBI who briefed Mueller twice a day during their tenure together. “It’s almost worse than undercutting Mueller. It’s saying Mueller’s not even relevant in this.”

[David A. Graham: What if everything Mueller told us had been new?]

In a phone interview, Figliuzzi described the dynamic between Mueller and Barr as one of “a boy scout” (Mueller) versus “a street fighter” (Barr). The attorney general himself has acknowledged that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “disagreed with some of the special counsel’s legal theories.” Now it is up to Congress to sort through the conflicts and to determine the legacy of the investigation they each had a hand in steering. “Mueller is a guy who plays by the rules, and he was playing by the rules in this report,” Figliuzzi told me. “He kind of trusts that the system will take care of itself, and he kicks his report over across the street to DOJ. That’s where things go south.”

It was Barr who first brought up his decades-long friendship with the man whose investigation he was to oversee, whose conclusions he was to summarize, and whose report he was to present to Congress and the American public. “I have known Bob Mueller personally and professionally for 30 years,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. “We worked closely together throughout my previous tenure at the Department of Justice under President Bush. We’ve been friends since.”

When Barr served as attorney general under President George H. W. Bush in 1991 and 1992, Mueller was the assistant attorney general heading up the criminal division. Both Barr and Mueller were in their 40s at the time, and colleagues from that period describe them as exceptionally smart and well-prepared lawyers who shared an easy rapport with each other, as well as a reverence for the Department of Justice. “Bob has always had this real strong desire to see the rule of law vindicated. That’s where the two of them are two peas in a pod,” said Paul McNulty, who served as the department’s chief spokesman in the early 1990s and later oversaw Mueller as deputy attorney general in the George W. Bush administration.

Barr and Mueller would sit in daily morning meetings in which Barr would often rib the more straitlaced Mueller about cases. “They got along very well,” recalled Timothy Flanigan, who was then an assistant attorney general overseeing the Office of Legal Counsel. “Bill had a keener sense of humor than Bob. He’d poked fun at Bob, and Bob took it in good grace.”

Mueller, a Marine who became a prosecutor, and Barr, who had worked in policy jobs during the Reagan and Bush administrations, were aligned on the tough-on-crime priorities that were in vogue in the early 1990s. Separately, former colleagues described each of them as the kind of boss who doesn’t “suffer fools.” But they had different strengths and different personalities. “One’s a soldier, one was essentially an intellectual, legal heavyweight,” McNulty told me. While Barr was known as a quick thinker who thought through arguments and made decisions rapidly, Mueller was more deliberative and process-oriented. “Mueller could be more down in the weeds,” McNulty said, “and Barr was more up above the weeds, looking at the constitutional issue, the big legal issue.

“They disagreed, but there weren’t hard feelings. It wasn’t personal,” McNulty added. “They both knew that the other person was the real deal.”

While Figliuzzi suggested to me that Barr had overstated his closeness with Mueller to ease his confirmation, both Flanigan and McNulty said the friendship is real. Flanigan has seen Mueller at Christmas parties at Barr’s home over the years, while McNulty said they were “definitely more friends than acquaintances.”

Both also defended Barr from the criticism leveled by Democrats and former Mueller associates about the way the attorney general handled the report. “It seemed to me he did exactly what he was supposed to,” Flanigan told me. “He followed the statutes. He accurately stated the conclusions.” He said it was “odd” that Mueller had failed to reach a conclusion on the obstruction-of-justice question. “It’s just not like Bob not to reach a conclusion,” Flanigan said. “He’s generally not quick in reaching decisions, but he’s decisive. To leave that hanging there as sort of a loose thread did surprise me.”

Barr’s critics, meanwhile, believe he was too quick to clear Trump of obstruction in his initial four-page letter to Congress, released in March. And they were even more incensed by his commentary at the press conference he held before releasing the report itself. The attorney general described the White House as having “fully cooperated” with Mueller, even though the report went into considerable detail about the president’s refusal to sit for an in-person interview or to answer written questions pertaining to obstruction of justice. And while Mueller pointedly did not exonerate Trump on the question of obstruction, Barr not only cleared the president, but also appeared to justify his actions by describing Trump as “frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks.”

That explanation “was a little odd,” said Robert Anderson, a former longtime FBI leader who served as the bureau’s counterintelligence chief under Mueller. “That’s not really neutral, just looking at the law. Of all the attorneys general that I served under, that’s not part of the conversation.” (Mueller declined to comment through his spokesman, Peter Carr, and the Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment on the criticism leveled against Barr.)

McNulty faulted Barr’s critics for quibbling with the way he described the report, saying the attorney general would have been well aware that what he said about Mueller’s findings would quickly be checked against the text of the report. “Knowing him and knowing what motivates him, some of the characterizations of him have just been inappropriate and inaccurate,” he told me. “If you know anything about Bill Barr, you know that he would care about the accuracy of his words in relation to the truth. So I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt.”

Congressional Democrats don’t have any plans to afford him that benefit: When they have the chance to question him again this week, the discrepancies between his summaries and the text of Mueller’s report are likely to be their juiciest target.

As with so much else over the course of a nearly two-year investigation, looming over the debate about the Mueller report is the oh-so-closely-held opinion of its author. Does Mueller believe that his friend Barr mischaracterized the painstaking, book-length document he submitted? And did he expect Barr to clear the president once and for all, or, as Democrats want to believe, did he intend for Congress to use his findings as a road map for further investigation and possibly impeachment?

Mueller has been studiously silent for two years, saving his conclusions—or lack thereof—for the 448 written pages he handed in last month. He didn’t hold a single press conference and was absent for Barr’s event last week. He even politely declined to comment when NBC News followed him to his car as he left church on Easter Sunday.

[Read: The Democrats’ plan to summon Robert Mueller]

Democrats want answers from him and are insisting that he testify before the House Judiciary Committee in the next month. Barr has said he won’t stand in his way, but there’s been no final determination about when—or if—he’ll appear. “We have not heard about a date yet or received confirmation that Mueller will come in to testify,” said Daniel Schwarz, a spokesman for Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler. The Department of Justice, which is handling the request for Mueller’s testimony, did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

As for what Mueller might say, there is broad disagreement. None of the former colleagues I spoke to expect him to divulge information that was redacted in the report, and Flanigan predicted he would open up little daylight between himself and Barr. “I’ll be surprised if Bob is ever quoted as saying he disagrees with the way Bill handled this,” he told me.

Figliuzzi and Anderson, however, described Mueller as deferential to Congress’s oversight role, and they suggested he would find a way to share his views honestly. Figliuzzi recalled that in the rare instances when Mueller was overruled by leaders at the Department of Justice, he would write a confidential memo memorializing his views and send it up the chain. “He wasn’t the one who would yell, scream, bang on the desk, and say, ‘This is all wrong,’” Figliuzzi said. “Those rare examples were very illustrative of him playing within the parameters he was given, but yet asserting his principles and ethics when necessary.

“I think we’ll see that approach in testimony on the Hill,” Figliuzzi continued. “He won’t necessarily come out and champion a cause without having been asked a question, but when he’s asked the right question, you’ll see him say, ‘Yeah, I don’t understand, nor do I agree with, the attorney general’s characterization of the president cooperating.’”

It’ll be on Democrats to see whether they can prod Mueller into opining about Barr, his longtime friend who is once again, at least temporarily, his boss.

“In a constrained, Mueller, button-down way,” Figliuzzi predicted, “it’ll be quite explosive.”

from The Atlantic http://bit.ly/2GQLfMO

The Other Notre-Dame Was Not Rebuilt

Which NFL prospects rocked the red carpet at the draft?

No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray's Gatsby-inspired suit was on point, but his wasn't the only bold look. We grade the best-dressed from the NFL draft.

from www.espn.com - NFL https://es.pn/2ZM6XIW
via IFTTT

Rosen believes he can be Miami's franchise QB

At his introductory news conference, Josh Rosen said he wants to prove next season that he can be the Dolphins' long-awaited answer at quarterback.

from www.espn.com - NFL https://es.pn/2LdwMyx
via IFTTT

Judge again blocks release of video in Kraft case

Palm Beach County Judge Joseph Marx ruled Monday to seal video and audio recordings gathered as evidence in the case against Robert Kraft and 24 other men who are charged with paying for sex at a Florida spa.

from www.espn.com - NFL https://es.pn/2GWClw7
via IFTTT

Slow the roll: Vegas says Browns miss playoffs

Despite all the hype around the Browns this offseason, one sportsbook thinks they might not even make the playoffs.

from www.espn.com - NFL https://es.pn/2vr3iCD
via IFTTT

Patriots trade TE Hollister to Seattle for 2020 pick

The Patriots are sending third-year tight end Jacob Hollister to the Seahawks for a 2020 seventh-round pick.

from www.espn.com - NFL https://es.pn/2VA9irp
via IFTTT

WR Hopkins' mother to be subject of new movie

Sabrina Greenlee, who was blinded in 2002, will be the subject of a movie titled "Sabrina" that will tell the story of her life.

from www.espn.com - NFL https://es.pn/2DEeFvE
via IFTTT

Giants say Ballentine recovering after being shot

The New York Giants said cornerback Corey Ballentine, who was shot Sunday in Topeka, Kansas, is recovering and will join the team for its minicamp this weekend.

from www.espn.com - NFL https://es.pn/2XXPawH
via IFTTT

2019 NFL draft: Biggest post-draft questions for all 32 teams

When will the rookie QBs be ready to play? Can the Chiefs replace Tyreek Hill if need be? These are some of the post-draft questions facing NFL teams.

from www.espn.com - NFL https://es.pn/2J29uZR
via IFTTT

Ravens’ vision of Lamar Jackson offense revealed through draft

Three of Baltimore's first four picks were devoted to a supporting cast that complements one of the most unique QB talents in the NFL.

from www.espn.com - NFL https://es.pn/2vrRqjV
via IFTTT

IS Leader Appears in Video for First Time in 5 years

The shadowy leader of the Islamic State group claimed to appear for the first time in five years in a video released by the extremist group’s propaganda arm on Monday, acknowledging defeat in the group’s last stronghold in Syria but vowing a “long battle” ahead.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2DCQihO

A New Way to Church: Justin Bieber's Pastor Launches App to Take Church Global

He's one of the men who helped introduce Justin Bieber to Jesus Christ. Now Pastor Judah Smith is working on the rest of the world, bringing church to your smartphone and tablet in a new way.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2PAW87V

Replacing Israel with Anti-Semitism in the Church, and What It Means for the End Times

Replacement theology in the Christian view of the Messiah has taken us far off target, and it affects our end-times theology. The common view of the church replacing Israel has caused huge consequences. Many Jews have a hard time believing in a Jewish Messiah that has replaced them. Many other Jews realize the truth that replacement theology is wrong and that the Messiah is still in a covenant relationship with them, as they have come to the understanding of wonderful saving grace.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2ZBG1f0

'War Footing': Church Canceled Indefinitely, Catholic Leaders in Sri Lanka Dissatisfied With Government Response

Catholic church leaders in Sri Lanka say they aren't satisfied with how the government has handled the investigation following the Easter Sunday attacks that left over 250 people dead.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2GIXxWd

Sri Lanka Militants Set off Bombs During Raid, Killing 15

Militants linked to Easter suicide bombings opened fire and set off explosives during a raid by Sri Lankan security forces on a house in the country’s east, leaving behind a grisly discovery Saturday: 15 bodies, including six children.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2XPoSgg

'It's as if Cuba Has Annexed the Country': As Venezuela Crisis Prolonged, Franklin Graham Launches Border Outreach

The United Nations has called the exodus of refugees from Venezuela "unparalleled" in the modern history of South America. More than a million of the country's four million refugees have fled to the neighboring nation of Colombia, but that's where tens of thousands of them had a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ over Easter weekend.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2vlW8PR

Canada Releases 'Gay Coin' to Celebrate LGBTQ2 Anniversary, Christians Call It 'An Affront to Our God'

The Royal Canadian Mint has released a commemorative one-dollar coin (known as a "loonie") to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalization of the LGBTQ community.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2DAz2K9

As Warning Emerges of New Sri Lanka Church Attacks, Global Christian Persecution Still 'Obscured'

Sri Lankan Christians fear more attacks are coming as the nation is still in mourning over the horrific bombings on Easter. Last Sunday's bombings were one of the world's worst terrorist attacks since 9/11, but there's still a sense that Americans don't grasp that Christians around the world are so targeted.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2VlaezT

Sri Lanka Says Easter Attack Leader Died in Hotel Bombing

The suspected leader of the militant group Sri Lankan authorities said carried out a series of Easter Sunday bombings died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel, one of six hotels and churches targeted in the attacks that killed at least 250 people, officials said Friday.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2L5JEa5

'The Porn Industry Is Modern-Day Slavery': How Pornography and Sex Trafficking Are Linked

To most people, sex trafficking is a problem that exists in distant foreign countries. You may think, “But it certainly isn’t something that would involve me, is it?” If you view pornography, then the answer is “Yes.”

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2PzlzqM

Sri Lankan Woman Left a Childless Widow, Losing Most of Her Family in Easter Church Bombing

Before the undertakers could move in, Anusha Kumari wrested herself away from her sisters and flung herself on the three coffins, wailing. In an instant, she was left childless and a widow when suicide bombers attacked churches and luxury hotels in and near Sri Lanka's capital of Colombo.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2ZvcnYZ

Sri Lanka Bombing Suspect Arrested, Manhunt Underway for Islamist Ringleader

The father of two of the Easter suicide bombers in Sri Lanka has been arrested on suspicion of aiding his sons. That word came Thursday from the country's former navy chief as a nationwide search continues for the suspected ring-leader of the Easter bombings in churches and hotels.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2W6JFva

Sri Lanka Terrorists Believed 'Islam Can Be the Only Religion', Most Were Highly Educated

Many of the suicide bombers who killed more than 350 people in a series of coordinated Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka were highly educated and came from well-off families, the junior defense minister said Wednesday.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2Gumkx4

Parents Pray for Kenyan Court to Order Reunion with Their 'Stolen' Son

An American couple prays to be reunited with son, believing he was 'kidnapped' from their own home to paint them as unfit foreign parents.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2IIIMGr

Christmas in April: Thanks to Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse, a Little Joy and Hope for Venezuelan Refugee Kids

Over the Easter weekend, hundreds of children in Cúcuta, Colombia, heard about Jesus' love for them through a Samaritan's Purse's outreach. Many of them are refugees who fled the socialist crisis in Venezuela.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2UQlwN6

Journalist Uses Sri Lanka Terror Attack as Opportunity to Slam Missionaries

A journalist made a bizarre segue Monday when he posted an article about the Sri Lanka church terror attacks and then launched into a verbal attack of his own against foreign mission workers.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2vjiPEo

As ISIS Claims Responsibility for Sri Lanka Church Bombings, Official Claims Retaliation for NZ Mosque Massacre

The Islamic State terrorist group is claiming responsibility for the terror attacks that killed more than 300 people in Sri Lanka Easter Sunday. And Sri Lanka's defense minister says the bombings were carried out in retaliation for the attack on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March.

from CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2GBPBqT

Blues, Stars tied 1-1 as series shifts to Dallas

null

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2DDjGEp

The brutal honesty of the Columbus Blue Jackets

A players-only meeting in Western Canada changed the trajectory of Columbus' season, putting the Blue Jackets on track for a legit chance at the Stanley Cup.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2Le5mbK

Canes' Mrazek day-to-day, but van Riemsdyk out

Carolina Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek is day-to-day with a lower body injury, and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk is out with an upper body injury.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2vuYhsw

Sharks' Vlasic wants 'apology' for no icing call

San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said he is waiting for an apology from the NHL in his comments on an icing call that wasn't whistled by the officials and led to a critical Avalanche goal in their 4-3 win in Game 2.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2PBG6us

Likely No. 1 pick Hughes tops Ovi's U18 mark

Jack Hughes passed Alex Ovechkin to claim the record for career points at the IIHF World Under-18 tournament.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2UHx8gt

Horse named for Avs captain 2nd in stakes debut

Landeskog, named for Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog and co-owned by Avs defenseman Erik Johnson, finished second in Saturday's $150,000 Bachelor Stakes.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2DCtn6l

Sharks' Pavelski misses Game 1 vs. Avalanche

Sharks captain Joe Pavelski was scratched for Friday's series opener against the Avalanche, three days after a hit that knocked him out of a Game 7 win over Vegas.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2vtfAKA

NHL apologizes to Vegas for major penalty call

The Sharks' four goals while on the power play during a major penalty in Game 7 erased a three-goal deficit and gave San Jose the lead in the third period.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2XOh52p

Knights-Sharks refs won't officiate in 2nd round

Two referees who worked the controversial Game 7 between the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks in the first round will not officiate in the second round.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2GHksSZ

Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily: Hurricanes rally to stun Isles

Carolina is up 2-0 after winning both games in Brooklyn, and the Avs squared things up with the Sharks. Plus, a preview of Monday's action.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2GPgZ4G

The Wysh List: Unexpected MVPs of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs

We identify one surprisingly hot performer from each remaining playoff team. Plus, more aftermath of the Leafs' loss, Jersey Fouls and more.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2DyLZnC

Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily: Stars, Blue Jackets even it up

Matt Duchene and Roope Hintz led their teams to victory Saturday. We get you caught up on those games, and preview Sunday's pair of Game 2s.

from www.espn.com - NHL https://es.pn/2W8VjWl

The 76ers reset their defense to steal home-court away from Raptors

After failing to contain Kawhi Leonard in Game 1, the Sixers responded with stifling defense Monday night to even the series.

from www.espn.com - NBA https://es.pn/2VuBbBa

Brown lauds 'James' Butler, 'the adult in the gym'

Jimmy Butler's huge effort for the 76ers on Monday night against the Raptors prompted coach Brett Brown to issue him a new name. "This was James Butler," Brown said. "That was the adult in the gym."

from www.espn.com - NBA https://es.pn/2VaprEI

Rockets audited '18 Game 7, say Finals bid taken

The Rockets believe they should have advanced to last year's NBA Finals, not the Warriors, citing their own audit of 81 potential missed calls in their Game 7 loss to Golden State.

from www.espn.com - NBA https://es.pn/2GVvFzz

CP3 fined $35K but not suspended for ref contact

Rockets guard Chris Paul has been fined $35,000 for "aggressively confronting and recklessly making contact with a game official" during Sunday's Game 1 loss to the Warriors, the NBA announced.

from www.espn.com - NBA https://es.pn/2J2Z24g

NBA: Curry should have fouled out in Game 1

The league reported that two controversial non-calls in the Rockets-Warriors game were correct, while other calls that went against Houston were messed up.

from www.espn.com - NBA https://es.pn/2XSHc87

Bucks target energy bump, not game plan, for G2

Giannis Antetokounmpo said even his older brother called him out for not playing hard enough in Sunday's Game 1 loss to the Celtics. The Bucks star and the rest of his team said energy and effort are the biggest things that need to change in Game 2.

from www.espn.com - NBA https://es.pn/2IQAKuS

Popovich negotiating new contract with Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs and head coach Gregg Popovich are negotiating a new deal.

from www.espn.com - NBA https://es.pn/2WcHCGf

'The heat is on': Why Joel Embiid and the Sixers need to win now

The Sixers went all-in this season with two win-now trades, but their future success resides with their franchise center -- and his health.

from www.espn.com - NBA https://es.pn/2Vuiwp9

Monday, 29 April 2019

Thousands take to Hong Kong streets to protest new extradition laws

Tens of thousands of people marched on Hong Kong's parliament on Sunday to demand the scrapping of proposed extradition rules that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial - a move which some fear puts the city's core freedoms at risk.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2XRzDPi