President Trump fires acting attorney general for defying order, man charged in attack on a mosque in Quebec, and more from the United States and around the world.
President Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates.
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
—President Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates on Monday night, hours after she instructed the Justice Department not to argue in defense of Trump’s immigration and refugee executive order. More here
—Alexandre Bissonnette, the suspect behind the deadly shooting at a Quebec mosque, was charged for perpetrating the attack that killed six people and injured 19 others. More here
—We’re tracking the news stories of the day below. All updates are in Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5).
Transgender boys will now be able to participate in the Boy Scouts of America, the organization announced Monday, accepting children based on their gender identities. Until now, the Boy Scouts only based its enrollment on the gender listed on birth certificates. But, the organization said in a statement, “that approach is no longer sufficient as communities and state laws are interpreting gender identity differently, and these laws vary widely from state to state.” Some Boy Scouts have previously been asked to leave the program after leaders found out the children were transgender. The new policy goes into effect immediately. The Boy Scouts have adopted more LGBTQ-friendly policies in recent years, amid pressure. In 2013, the organization said it would allow openly gay children to participate, and in 2015 allowed in gay troop leaders and employees. LGBTQ rights activists celebrated Monday’s announcement.
Trump Fires Acting Attorney General for Not Defending Immigration Order
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Updated at 9:45 p.m.
President Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates on Monday night, hours after she instructed the Justice Department not to argue in defense of Trump’s immigration and refugee executive order.
“The acting attorney general, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States,” the White House said in an unusual statement announcing the dismissal. “Ms. Yates is an Obama administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration.”
The White House said Dana Boente, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, would serve as acting attorney general in Yates’s stead until the Senate confirms Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
Events unfolded rapidly after Yates sent a letter to Justice Department lawyers instructing them not to defend Trump’s controversial executive order in court, a surprising rebuke of the new president’s controversial efforts to block immigrants and refugees from seven largely Muslim countries from entering the United States. Yates had been confirmed by the Senate to the position of deputy attorney general in January 2015.
“At present I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with [my] responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful,” she wrote. “Consequently, for as long as I am the acting attorney general, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the executive order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate.”
Her move came after a chaotic weekend at dozens of U.S. airports in which armies of volunteer lawyers and demonstrators attempted to aid those detained and deported by Trump’s executive order. Federal judges in five states blocked immigration officials from enforcing parts of the order over the past three days.
Yates’s directive also adds new energy to the Senate confirmation battle over Sessions, an immigration hardliner nominated by Trump to helm the Justice Department. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Sessions’s nomination on Tuesday.
“My responsibility is to ensure that the position of the Department of Justice is not only legally defensible, but is informed by our best view of what the law is after consideration of all the facts,” she wrote. “In addition, I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right.”
SWAT team officers walk near the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec on January 30, 2017. (Mathieu Belanger / Reuters)
Alexandre Bissonnette, the suspect behind the deadly shooting at a Quebec mosque, was charged Monday for perpetrating the attack that killed six people and injured 19 others, the Toronto Star reports. The 27-year-old university student faces six counts of first degree murder and five counts of attempted murder. Approximately 39 people were attending Sunday prayers at the Cultural Centre of Quebec’s Grand Mosque when a gunman entered the building and opened fire on the worshippers. Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, condemned the shooting as “a terrorist attack on Muslims in a centre of worship and refuge.”
Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting Suspect Pleads Not Guilty
Estoban Santiago is transported to the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on January 9, 2017. (Amy Beth Bennett / Reuters)
Estoban Santiago plead not guilty Monday to criminal charges accusing him of perpetrating a shooting that left five people dead and six others injured at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The 26-year-old Iraq war veteran, who traveled to Florida on a one-way ticket from Alaska, faces 22 criminal charges for allegedly loading a handgun in an airport bathroom and opening fire on people in baggage claim. If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty. Santiago’s family said he was receiving psychological treatment prior to the attack, and authorities are determining whether his mental health played a role. Santiago had previously told investigators he was inspired by the Islamic State after chatting with extremists online, though it is unclear if this is true.
Less Than Two Weeks After Leaving, Obama Speaks Out
Credit POOL / Reuters
Less than two weeks since his successor Donald Trump was sworn in as president, former President Barack Obama made a public statement in support of the protests that erupted in response to Trump’s executive order barring travelers from certain majority-Muslim countries.
“President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country,” reads the statement from Obama spokesperson Kevin Lewis. “Citizens exercising their Constitutional right to assemble, organize, and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake.” Notably, in his last press conference, Obama implied he might re-enter the political arena if he believed that the nation had reached a moment “where I think our core values may be at stake.”
Obama’s decision to weigh in so soon after leaving office suggests a high level of concern over recent events––most presidents try to avoid weighing in on politics in the immediate aftermath of their administrations. But the decision was likely affected by the Trump administration’s decision to falsely characterize the ban as similar to policies pursued while Obama was in office––the Obama administration never barred all refugees, green card holders, or visa applications in the same manner.
“With regard to comparison to President Obama’s foreign police decisions,” Miller’s statement reads, “the President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.”
Washington State Sues Donald Trump Over the Travel Ban
Elaine Thompson / AP
The attorney general for Washington state said Monday the state will sue President Trump over the executive order signed last week that bans migration to the U.S. from seven majority-Muslim countries. Washington is now the first state to file suit against the order. Washington’s attorney general was one of 15 others who signed a statement opposing Trump’s travel ban. On Monday, at a news conference announcing the suit, Governor Jay Inslee said of the order: “Its impact, its cruelty, its clear purpose is an unconstitutional religious test.” The suit will be backed by Washington-based companies like Expedia and Amazon.com, according toThe Seattle Times, and company representatives will provide testimonies about the economic harms Trump’s ban will bring. The order has set off waves of protests across the country, and over the weekend a huge crowd demonstrated outside the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where two men were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection—and later released.
Iraqi lawmakers attend a session in Baghdad, Iraq, on September 8, 2014. (Thaier Al-Sudani / Reuters)
Iraqi lawmakers approved a measure Monday barring Americans from entering the country, the Associated Press reports. The measure, which is non-binding, comes in response to President Trump’s executive order Friday banning citizens from Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. It is unclear when the ban will go into effect, or if it will affect American military personnel or non-government workers already in the country. Iraq’s foreign ministry released a statement Monday condemning the U.S. ban, which it characterized as a “wrong” move by “an ally and a strategic partner.” Indeed, the bans signal a strain in relations between Washington and Baghdad, whose joint efforts have focused on targeting the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. Iran, which is also on the U.S. list, responded to the U.S. ban Saturday with a retaliatory measure of its own, announcing it too would bar U.S. citizens from entering the country “until the offensive U.S. limitations against Iranian nationals are lifted.”
France Charges Brussels Bombing Suspect in Paris Attacks
A Belgian police officer secures the zone outside a courthouse while Brussels attacks suspects Mohamed Abrini and Osama Krayem appear before a judge in Brussels, Belgium, on April 14, 2016. (Yves Herman / Reuters)
French authorities have the charged the Brussels bombing suspect with involvement in the November 2015 Paris attacks. Belgian authorities handed over Mohamed Abrini, the “man in the hat,” to France for one day in connection with the Paris attack, French media quoted prosecutors as saying. Both attacks were claimed by ISIS, and Belgian authorities said they were planned and carried out by the same cell. The Brussels airport bombing on March 22, 2016, killed 32 people; the Paris attacks killed 130.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling the shooting deaths of six people at a mosque in Quebec City an act of terrorism. Two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting at the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec; eight people were wounded in Sunday’s attack during evening prayers. Quebec’s Premier Philippe Couillard called the incident “murderous act directed at a specific community.” An unnamed witness told Radio-Canada that the shooting was carried out by two masked gunmen. Martin Coiteux, Quebec’s public-security minister, said places of worship across the province were given extra security following the attack. Last June, someone left a pig’s head at the doorstep of the Islamic Center during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan; Muslims regard the pig as an unclean animal. The motivation of the gunmen is not yet clear.
Here's What's Happening Today With Trump's Immigration Order
President Trump’s executive order led to massive protests, legal challenges, and an apparent reversal over the weekend. The order suspends the U.S. refugee intake for 120 days, bans all Syrian refugees until further notice, and bars people from seven countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen—for 90 days. Following large protests over the weekend at several U.S. airports and outside the White House, as well as legal challenges on the behalf of individuals detained at U.S. ports of entry, the Trump administration appeared to reverse course on a section of the ban the also applied to U.S. permanent residents. Other parts of the ban remain in effect. Protests are expected on Monday, though perhaps on a smaller scale as it’s the start of the workweek. Criticism of the order has spread across the Atlantic: In the U.K., a petition to stop Trump’s state visit has gained more than 1 million signatures; 100,000 signatures were needed for the petition to be considered for parliamentary debate.
A number of Democratic power brokers wanted Representative Joe Kennedy to run for president. He consulted with family members and said no.
FALL RIVER, Mass.—Four new members of the House were hanging out at a bar back at the end of 2012, after a long day of new-member orientation at Harvard’s Kennedy School: Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts, Beto O’Rourke of Texas, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, and Eric Swalwell of California.
A woman approached the table, and caught O’Rourke’s eye.
“She’s like, ‘Are you who I think you are?’ And I thought, I just won this seat in Texas and she knows about me, and this is cool. I’m big-time,” O’Rourke told me last year, a few months before his Senate run took off. “And I say, ‘Well, yeah, I think I am.’ She’s like, ‘You’ve got to come over to my table. All my friends want to meet you. This is crazy.’ So I go over and we’re taking pictures.”
It’s much less scientific—and more prone to gratuitous procedures—than you may think.
In the early 2000s Terry Mitchell’s dentist retired. For a while, Mitchell, an electrician in his 50s, stopped seeking dental care altogether. But when one of his wisdom teeth began to ache, he started looking for someone new. An acquaintance recommended John Roger Lund, whose practice was a convenient 10-minute walk from Mitchell’s home, in San Jose, California. Lund’s practice was situated in a one-story building with clay roof tiles that housed several dental offices. The interior was a little dated, but not dingy. The waiting room was small and the decor minimal: some plants and photos, no fish. Lund was a good-looking middle-aged guy with arched eyebrows, round glasses, and graying hair that framed a youthful face. He was charming, chatty, and upbeat. At the time, Mitchell and Lund both owned Chevrolet Chevelles, and they bonded over their mutual love of classic cars.
“James’s performance, I’m sure, is causing grief for an accountant somewhere.”
Ken Jennings rose to fame after an unprecedented run on Jeopardy 15 years ago: Over the course of 74 episodes, he won a total of roughly $2.5 million.
Recently, a contestant named James Holzhauer has been working toward Jennings’s record at an astonishing pace. After the Friday-evening broadcast of the quiz program, Holzhauer had won about $850,000 over just 12 episodes. If he keeps up that rate, he’ll reach $2.5 million in less than half the time it took Jennings to do so.
Before Holzhauer went on the show, the most money earned in a single episode of Jeopardywas $77,000. During his 12-episode streak, he’s beaten that total not once, but five times, and has set a new record of $131,127. Holzhauer’s success has been attributed not just to his deep trivia knowledge, but also to his aggressive style of play—he homes in on high-value tiles that might contain Daily Doubles, and then often bets enormous sums when he finds them—and his unmatched buzzer-pressing reflexes.
The students have survived watching their teacher demonstrate how to put a condom on a “wooden penis model.” They’ve been assigned homework to find examples of contraception use in sex scenes in movies or TV shows. But before they go, they have one final lesson, one last barrier method for their teacher to sheepishly explain: the dental dam, a latex sheet used as a barrier during oral sex.
According to a sex-ed curriculum used by school districts in San Diego, Boston, Portland, and elsewhere, their teacher would show them how to remove a dam from its package and place it over genitalia by forming an “O” with their hand. The instructor would inform the students that dental dams are flavored, and that they should only be used once and then thrown away. Most important, the teacher would instruct them to always use dental dams when performing oral sex on women, or they’ll be at risk of transmitting STIs.There’s just one problem: The pupils are unlikely ever to take their teachers up on the suggestion. Even the teachers, preaching about the dangers of STIs, have probably never bought one themselves.
A lot of software developers, according to an unprecedented new analysis.
Updated on April 19 at 1:28 p.m. ET.
There has never been a town like the one San Francisco is becoming, a place where a single industry composed almost entirely of rich people thoroughly dominates the local economy. Much of the money that’s been squished out of the rest of the world gets funneled by the internet pipes to this little sliver of land on the Pacific Ocean, jutting out into the glory of the bay. The city now sits atop a geyser of cash created from what the scholar Shoshana Zuboff calls “behavioral surplus”—the natural resource created from your behavior, which is to say your mind.
Literal colonies of the working poor now cling to forgotten streets in RV communities. Homeless encampments are stitched onto any liminal plot of land. To lose your apartment doesn’t mean moving one neighborhood over but three cities away, to Antioch or Gilroy or Stockton.
Why don’t the two holidays always coincide? It is, to some degree, the moon’s fault.
Let’s get some things straight.
Passover is a springtime Jewish festival celebrating the early Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and freedom from slavery. Jews observe it by hosting a ritual dinner, called a seder, and then by abstaining from eating all leavened bread for about a week. (Some of us abstain from someother stuff, too.) Instead, we eat matzo, a thin, unleavened cracker.
Easter is a springtime Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and freedom from sin and death. It is preceded by a series of holidays commemorating Jesus’s path to the cross. One of these holidays is Maundy Thursday, which, aside from being a great name for a holiday, is a remembrance of the Last Supper, which was a seder. In the United States, many Christians observe Easter by attending a ritual meal between breakfast and lunch, called a brunch.
Democrats and Republicans echo Trump’s anti-Beijing rhetoric, but escalating tensions could leave Americans far worse off.
News reports suggest that in the coming weeks, the United States and China will sign an agreement that repeals the tariffs the two nations have been levying on each other’s goods for the past nine months. If past behavior is any guide, Donald Trump will call it the greatest deal ever, and global markets will breathe a sigh of relief. But the deal will likely constitute only a modest pause in Washington’s growing hostility toward Beijing.
That’s partly because, for Trump, no agreement is truly final. The president, The New York Times recently observed, “has repeatedly agreed to new trade terms with foreign partners, then talked about undoing those deals to achieve additional goals.” Trump has already begun to renege on commitments made as part of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, which he hailed as “incredible” in October.
Can the federal census form ask whether each member of a household is a U.S. citizen?
The outcome in New York v. Department of Commerce, which the Supreme Court will hear on April 23, will affect virtually every aspect of our national life, from the right to vote to the balance of power in Congress and the Electoral College to the scope of federal educational, health, and welfare programs. At issue is whether next year’s federal census form can include a question asking whether each member of a household is a U.S. citizen. Although the case has constitutional dimensions—the census itself is created by the Constitution— the result is likely to turn on whether the Department of Commerce, which administers the census, properly read Title 13 of the United States Code.
Every American knows that we have “separation of powers” in our system. But what does that mean? In essence, it means that Congress can create, change, or repeal statutes but can’t enforce them, and the executive branch can enforce statutes but can’t create, change, or repeal them.
What the life of Richard Holbrooke tells us about the decay of Pax Americana
What’s called the American century was really just a little more than half a century, and that was the span of Richard Holbrooke’s life. It began with the Second World War and the creative burst that followed—the United Nations, the Atlantic alliance, containment, the free world—and it went through dizzying lows and highs, until it expired the day before yesterday. The thing that brings on doom to great powers—is it simple hubris, or decadence and squander, a kind of inattention, loss of faith, or just the passage of years? At some point that thing set in, and so we are talking about an age gone by. It wasn’t a golden age—there was plenty of folly and wrong—but I already miss it. The best about us was inseparable from the worst. Our feeling that we could do anything gave us the Marshall Plan and Vietnam, the peace at Dayton and the endless Afghan War. Our confidence and energy, our reach and grasp, our excess and blindness—they were not so different from Holbrooke’s. He was our man. That’s the reason to tell you this story.
Better to run than to have your liver squeezed out.
The great white shark—a fast, powerful, 16-foot-long torpedo that’s armed to the teeth with teeth—has little to fear except fear itself. But also: killer whales.
For almost 15 years, Salvador Jorgensen from the Monterey Bay Aquarium has been studying great white sharks off the coast of California. He and his colleagues would lure the predators to their boats using bits of old carpet that they had cut in the shape of a seal. When the sharks approached, the team would shoot them with electronic tags that periodically emit ultrasonic signals. Underwater receivers, moored throughout Californian waters, detected these signals as the sharks swam by, allowing the team to track their whereabouts over time.
