Currentaffairsnews (Headlines)

The Mueller investigation was supposed to be a legal process concerned with crimes. Investigators identified no crimes to charge, and so it has, naturally, become something else: no longer a theory about a criminal conspiracy — only an irritable mood.An ordeal that had been conducted under the procedures of law in accordance with legal criteria is now an ordeal that is being conducted under the procedures of politics in accordance with political criteria — or, if you prefer, with moral criteria related to Donald Trump’s character. For those who want to see President Trump impeached and who think of impeachment as a fundamentally political process in spite of its mock-trial aspect, that’s just fine. They’ll take their pound of flesh, however it is had.The problem with this point of view is that the question of Donald Trump’s personal fitness for office already has been adjudicated as a political matter: That is what happened in the 2016 presidential election. Many critics, myself included, argued that Trump was unfit for the office, both morally and intellectually. We made our arguments, the voters consulted their own consciences, and, weighing these things however it is that voters weigh them, chose Trump. There wasn’t some occult intermediary step in there. That’s how things go in politics: The people behave just as if they had minds of their own! And, sometimes, they get to have their own way.In terms of Donald Trump’s character and habits, there is practically nothing in the Mueller report — or in the public record since 2016 — that voters did not already know when they elected him. And that is really the fundamental argument against impeaching President Trump: The political judgment called for in an impeachment at this point and in this context properly ought to be understood as beside the point, if we take seriously the democratic assumption that the judgment of the people, rendered in the election, is sovereign.There isn’t some shocking new thing, and, of course, some Democrats have been talking impeachment since before Trump was even sworn in. The Democrats do not propose to impeach Donald Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors, but simply for being Donald Trump. One may sympathize with that, but Donald Trump is the man the voters chose.And that goes to the real issue here: The Democrats cannot accept that they lost an election to Donald Trump. One sympathizes with that, too, but that is what actually happened, for several reasons: Trump focused on two issues — immigration and trade — that speak to a substantial bipartisan plurality with nationalistic and protectionist impulses rarely taken seriously by mainstream figures in either party; his opponent ran an inept campaign and has been questing after power for so long that both she and the voters are exhausted by it; the “elites” and Washingtonians against whom Trump & Co. inveigh were judged, not without some reason, to merit a trip to the woodshed; the so-called war on terror and the financial crisis of 2008–09 have destabilized formerly sturdy political coalitions. And, of course, it was Republicans’ turn.Which is to say: The Democrats’ talk of impeachment is partly about 2020, but it’s mainly about 2016, and their adolescent psychic need to believe that the presidential election that brought Donald Trump to the White House was illegitimate rather than an opportunity they simply blew. The theory that the election was thrown by Russian trolls posting dank memes on Twitter is hard to take seriously. If we had a list of every voter whose mind was changed in 2016 by an anonymous social-media account with a Cyrillic bio, then disenfranchising those voters would be a good start on improving things for 2020. Alas and alack, we don’t do that sort of thing. But the argument that bot-executed shenanigans nullified democracy in 2016 amounts to the Democrats protesting: “These trolls robbed us of the support of our natural base: morons!”There’s no quality control in social media — and less quality control in ordinary news media than there used to be. Lies, distortions, exaggerations, and pure inventions are going to be out there in the intellectual marketplace, whether they originate in Moscow or in Brooklyn. That’s a real problem, but it doesn’t invalidate the outcome of the 2016 election.There are many reasons to oppose an impeachment at this time: One is that no one has made a very persuasive case for one, all of the Democrats’ arguments up to this point having been transparently pretextual. Another is that the Republican majority in the Senate all but ensures that the process would be purely symbolic, an exercise in chaos for pleasure’s sake. A third is that it normalizes the invocation of a procedure that should be reserved for extraordinary circumstances in the service of ordinary short-term partisan interests. For comparison, consider that there was no serious impeachment talk when Barack Obama authorized the assassination of U.S. citizens without so much as a by-your-leave from Congress — or when he took executive actions that he himself had described as unconstitutional only months before. That suggests a pretty high standard — and if “I think that guy is a fink!” ends up being a common rationale for impeachment, then you’d better make your peace with anarchy, because Washington is going to be a ghost town.But the most important reason for forbearance here is that a political judgment already has been rendered on Donald Trump’s character — and, if you don’t like how that came out, there’s another chance right around the corner.

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AMPARA, Sri Lanka (AP) — The effects of Sri Lanka's Easter suicide bombings reverberated across two faiths Sunday, with Catholics shut out of their churches for fear of new attacks, left with only a televised Mass, and Muslim women ordered to stop wearing veils in public.

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The parents of slain 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy A.J. Freund are scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.

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AMPARA, Sri Lanka (AP) — The Latest on the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka (all times local):

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Last December, police reports indicated dog feces and urine were scattered throughout 5-year-old Andrew "AJ" Freund's home.

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The voyage risks further raising tensions with China but will likely be viewed by self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing. Taiwan is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which also include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and China's increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols. "The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, said in a statement.

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Japan marks the end of an era with Tuesday's abdication of Emperor Akihito, and the outgoing monarch leaves behind a much-changed country. Crown Prince Naruhito will inherit a Japan vastly different from that of the start of his father's reign, when the country was in the grip of an economic bubble and on the verge of a tech revolution. Japan's shrinking population is among the country's most pressing social and economic issues.

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Human error may be to blame for the Seattle crane collapse on Saturday that killed four people and injured another four, experts said based on videos.

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres demanded Monday that the world "step up to stamp out anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred, persecution of Christians and all other forms of racism, xenophobia, discrimination and incitement."

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Senator Richard Lugar, a leading US voice on foreign policy for decades and a onetime presidential candidate known for his civility and bipartisan ways, has died at a medical center in Falls Church, Virginia. Lugar died of chronic inflammatory polyneuropathy, according to a statement from the Lugar Center in Washington, a global policy institute which he founded in 2013. A soft-spoken Republican moderate, Lugar was twice chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and built a reputation as one of Washington's most influential foreign-policy voices during the record six terms he represented Indiana in the Senate.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The man suspected of killing his parents and five other people in two rural Tennessee homes stole the car of one of the victims and was wearing a blood-stained T-shirt when he was seen, telling acquaintances the stain was just chocolate, according to authorities and court documents.

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Biden is an establishment Democrat with a long record of bipartisan deals ranging from budget accords this decade to a now-maligned 1994 crime bill. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, was an early adopter of ideas including single payer health insurance and a $15 federal minimum wage, that have rapidly gained traction in the progressive base. For the moment, Biden, 76, and Sanders, 77, lead the pack in virtually every poll, buoyed by strong name recognition.

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via FacebookPOWAY, California—The parents of John Earnest, who allegedly opened fire on a synagogue Saturday, called their son evil on Monday.“We are shocked and deeply saddened by the terrible attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue,” the family said in a statement released through an attorney. “But our sadness pales in comparison to the grief and anguish our son has caused for so many innocent people. He has killed and injured the faithful who were gathered in a sacred place on a sacred day. To our great shame, he is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries.” On Saturday morning, Earnest entered Chabad of Poway with an assault-style rifle and allegedly opened fire, killing one woman and wounding three others, including a rabbi. Twenty minutes before the attack, Earnest published a virulently anti-Semitic manifesto repeating centuries’ old libels against Jews as justification for murdering them. The message said he idolized Brenton Tarrant, the alleged Christchurch mosque attacker, and Robert Bowers, who allegedly murdered 11 Jews at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Earnest also approvingly cited Adolf Hitler. Twenty minutes after posting the message, he entered Chabad of Poway with an assault-style rifle and allegedly opened fire, killing one woman and wounding three others, including a rabbi. Earnest was chased out of the synagogue by an Army veteran and fled in a vehicle. Soon after, he called 911 and told authorities where to find him on a highway, according to authorities. He will be arraigned Wednesday morning in San Diego County court, one count of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder.Earnest, 19, grew up in a middle-class neighborhood not far from Poway. He was an honors student and accomplished pianist at Mt. Carmel High School, where his father, also named John, works as a teacher. Earnest’s father also served as board president of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Escondido, where the family attended church weekly. Gerrit Groenewold, a member of the church, told The Daily Beast on Sunday that Earnest was the quietest of his family, so quiet that Groenewold grew concerned. “I noticed that he was quiet and just wanted to have contact,” he said. “It’s not good if someone is that quiet. He needs to be part of the community, to let them know what is going on.”Earnest was not known to law enforcement prior to the attack, authorities said, and has no known ties to white supremacist groups.Read more at The Daily Beast.

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US regulators considered grounding some Boeing 737 MAX planes last year after learning belatedly of a problem with a system that is now the main suspect in two deadly crashes, a source close to the matter said. Investigators in the Lion Air crash in October and the Ethiopia Airlines disaster in March have zeroed in on the planes' anti-stall system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS. Last year, before the Lion crash, inspectors with the Federal Aviation Administration discovered that the manufacturer had de-activated a signal designed to advise the cockpit crew of a malfunctioning of the MCAS system, the source said.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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Japanese police on Monday arrested a 56-year-old man in connection with two paring knives found at the school desk of Prince Hisahito, grandson of Emperor Akihito, local media reported. The incident comes as authorities were beefing up security ahead of the popular emperor's abdication on Tuesday after a 30-year reign, the first monarch to relinquish the throne of the world's oldest imperial family for two centuries. Akihito's eldest son, 59-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito, will take the throne on Wednesday in a series of ceremonies. Hisahito is the son of Naruhito's younger brother and the last eligible male heir. Japan's centuries-old succession would be broken if Hisahito does not have a male child as the Imperial Household Law, in place since 1947, does not allow women to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne. Japan's Imperial family The suspect, identified as Kaoru Hasegawa, was arrested on suspicion of illegally entering the premises of the junior high school the 12-year-old prince attends on Friday, public broadcaster NHK and other news reports said. His motive was not immediately clear. NHK said police officials were questioning him and suspected he placed the knives at the desk, while Nippon Television said he admitted the allegations. A police spokesman declined to comment. Hisahito, who began attending the school this month, was not in the classroom when the knives are believed to have been left. There were no reports of any injuries or damage at the school, while police did not find any threatening note related to the case. Security camera footage showed a man with a helmet trespassing on the school grounds at around noon, they said. Police had been searching for the middle-aged man who was dressed as a construction worker. Threats to the imperial family are relatively rare. In 1975, Akihito was almost hit by a Molotov cocktail in Okinawa, a major World War II battlefield where there was strong anti-emperor sentiment.

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United Airlines is covering up all the cameras on the back of customers' seats amid backlash about privacy.

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