US pulling out of northern Syria; full withdrawal possible
WASHINGTON — The United States appears to be heading toward a full military withdrawal from Syria amid growing chaos, cries of betrayal and signs that Turkey’s invasion could fuel a broader war.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday that President Donald Trump had directed U.S. troops in northern Syria to begin pulling out “as safely and quickly as possible.” He did not say Trump ordered troops to leave Syria, but that seemed like the next step in a combat zone growing more unstable by the hour.
Esper, interviewed on two TV news shows, said the administration was considering its options.
“We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies and it’s a very untenable situation,” Esper said.
This seemed likely to herald the end of a five-year effort to partner with Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters to ensure a lasting defeat of the Islamic State group. Hundreds of IS supporters escaped a holding camp amid clashes between invading Turkish-led forces and Kurdish fighters, and analysts said an IS resurgence seemed more likely, just months after Trump declared the extremists defeated.
NY Times: Violent parody video shown at Trump resort
WASHINGTON — A graphically violent parody video, shown at a meeting of President Donald Trump’s supporters at his Miami resort, depicted a likeness of the president shooting and stabbing his opponents and members of the news media in a church, The New York Times reported Sunday.
In the video, Trump’s critics and media members are portrayed as parishioners fleeing his gruesome rampage. The fake Trump strikes the late Sen. John McCain in the neck, hits and stabs TV personality Rosie O’Donnell in the face, lights Sen. Bernie Sanders’ head on fire and shoots or otherwise assaults people whose faces are replaced with news organization logos.
The video was shown last week at an American Priority conference at Trump’s Doral Miami resort, the newspaper said. Trump was not there. Event organizer Alex Phillips told the Times the video was played as part of a “meme exhibit” and was not associated with or endorsed by the conference “in any official capacity.” ”American Priority rejects all political violence,” he said, and is looking into the matter.
The video includes the logo for Trump’s 2020 campaign but Tim Murtaugh, spokesman for the re-election organization, told the Times the “video was not produced by the campaign, and we do not condone violence.”
The setting for the massacre is the “Church of Fake News,” capturing Trump’s familiar refrain about news stories and organizations that he considers to be fake news.
Family seeks answers after police kill Texas woman at home
FORT WORTH, Texas — A white police officer who killed a black woman inside her Texas home while responding to a neighbor’s call about an open front door “didn’t have time to perceive a threat” before he opened fire, an attorney for the woman’s family said.
“You didn’t hear the officer shout, ‘Gun, gun, gun,’” attorney Lee Merritt said after viewing video taken from a Fort Worth officer’s bodycam during Saturday’s shooting of Atatiana Jefferson, 28. “He didn’t have time to perceive a threat. That’s murder.”
Her family told KXAS television that Jefferson was watching her 8-year-old nephew when she was killed early Saturday.
The Fort Worth Police Department said in a statement that officers saw someone near a window inside the home and that one of them drew his duty weapon and fired after “perceiving a threat.” The video released by police shows two officers searching the home from the outside with flashlights before one shouts, “Put your hands up, show me your hands.” One shot is then fired through a window.
From wire sources
“It’s another one of those situations where the people that are supposed to protect us are actually not here to protect us,” said Jefferson’s sister, Amber Carr.
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Voters weary of more investigations as impeachment ramps up
FISHERS, Ind. — As Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump intensifies, Mark Stenske feels like he’s seen this movie before, and the storyline is getting old.
First, there was the nearly two-year investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s possible role in it. Then came the accusations against Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, and contentious hearings before a Senate committee. Now it’s questions about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine’s president and whether that should lead to Trump’s removal from office.
“I think they wanted to do it all along, and they’re just looking for another way, another avenue,” Stenske, a 55-year-old Trump supporter, said of the impeachment proceedings as he walked his dog through a suburban Indianapolis park last week. “I think it’s kind of a ploy to help keep the pressure on him and muddy his campaign, his chances to win in 2020.”
Polling finds that support for the inquiry has grown since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the start of the investigation last month following a whistleblower complaint. But what those numbers don’t show is the sense of fatigue among some Americans — a factor that could be significant as Democrats leading the inquiry debate how to proceed with an election year approaching.
It’s a feeling shared by people on both sides.
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Law gives child sex assault victims more time to file suits
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California is giving childhood victims of sexual abuse more time to decide whether to file lawsuits, joining several states in expanding the statute of limitations for victims over warnings from school districts that the new rules could bankrupt them.
The law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom gives victims of childhood sexual abuse until age 40, or five years from discovery of the abuse, to file civil lawsuits. The previous limit had been 26, or within three years from discovery of the abuse.
It also suspends the statute of limitations for three years — beginning Jan. 1 — giving victims of all ages time to bring lawsuits if they wish.
“The idea that someone who is assaulted as a child can actually run out of time to report that abuse is outrageous,” said Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the author of the bill.
California is at least the third state this year to take this step. Earlier this year, New York and New Jersey raised their statutes of limitations to age 55. New York also suspended its statute of limitations for one year, leading to hundreds of lawsuits against hospitals, schools, the Roman Catholic Church and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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Hunter Biden to step down from Chinese board
NEW YORK — Facing intense scrutiny from President Donald Trump and his Republican allies, Hunter Biden said Sunday he will step down from the board of directors of a Chinese-backed private equity firm at the end of the month as part of a pledge not to work on behalf of any foreign-owned companies should his father win the presidency.
Biden, the 49-year-old son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, revealed his plan in an internet post written by his attorney, George Mesires, who outlined a defense of the younger Biden’s work in Ukraine and China, which has emerged as one of Trump’s chief lines of attack against Hunter’s father despite no proof of impropriety.
“Hunter makes the following commitment: Under a Biden Administration, Hunter will readily comply with any and all guidelines or standards a President Biden may issue to address purported conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts, including any restrictions related to overseas business interests. In any event, Hunter will agree not to serve on boards of, or work on behalf of, foreign owned companies,” Mesires wrote.
He continued: “He will continue to keep his father personally uninvolved in his business affairs, while availing himself as necessary and appropriate to the Office of the White House Counsel to help inform his application of the Biden Administration’s guidelines or standards to his business decision-making.”
Joe Biden, speaking to reporters after a union forum in suburban Des Moines, Iowa, said his son did not discuss that decision with him before posting the statement.
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California power outages highlight economic disparity
When the nation’s largest utility warned customers that it would cut power to nearly 2 million people across Northern California, many rushed out to buy portable generators, knowing the investment could help sustain them during blackouts.
Others had the security of knowing they could rely on solar panels and batteries installed in their homes.
But many families impacted by the blackouts are struggling from paycheck to paycheck and don’t have the luxury of buying backup power.
The blackouts are highlighting a divide in a region with growing income disparity where access to electricity is increasingly available to those who can afford to pay.
Communities in the San Francisco Bay Area are already reeling from economic imbalance as the tech industry has drawn well-off workers to the region, pushing lower- and middle-income families farther away from pricey city centers.
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Serial killer’s victim portraits could help crack cold cases
Most of the women in Samuel Little’s hand-drawn portraits seem to be frowning.
Their hair is short and curly or long and straight. They stare straight ahead or slightly off to the side. Some wear lipstick and jewelry.
Little, whom the FBI identified this month as the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, produced startlingly detailed likenesses of dozens of women he says he strangled over the course of more than three decades. Now the FBI is publicizing his portraits — hoping that someone, somewhere, will recognize the face of a long-lost loved one in an image drawn by the killer himself.
“I’m not sure I have a better solution in terms of how to get the information out there and how to notify families,” said Claire Ponder Selib, interim executive director of the National Organization for Victim Assistance. “But I can only imagine seeing a drawing by the killer of your mother or your sister or your daughter who may have died 20, 30 years ago. … Honestly, I struggle with this.”
The FBI’s publication of the images was made possible by a unique set of circumstances: The killer was not only willing to confess his crimes but had a vivid memory of what his victims looked like and sufficient artistic ability to reproduce their faces. A Texas ranger who interviewed Little noticed he liked to draw and gave him art supplies behind bars.
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New Orleans hotel collapse: Search on for a missing worker
NEW ORLEANS — Rescue crews on Sunday searched for a worker missing in the partial collapse of a New Orleans hotel that was under construction, their work proceeding cautiously amid fears about the stability of the structure, authorities said.
Officials declined to say if they have any indication whether the missing worker is alive after Saturday’s collapse. New Orleans Fire Chief Tim McConnell said they are treating their work as a rescue mission until they have evidence the missing person is dead along with two other people killed when a large part of the Hard Rock Hotel project crashed down near the city’s historic French Quarter.
“Safety is the No. 1 thing. The last thing you want to do when you are trying to rescue somebody is lose someone else,” McConnell said at a news conference Sunday.
Several floors of the hotel toppled down Saturday amid blinding dust and flying debris. WWL-TV obtained a viewer’s dramatic video of upper floors collapsing Saturday before one side of the building crashed to the street.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell told media outlets later Sunday that the body of one of the two dead has been recovered and the coroner’s office is working to identify the victim.