Two-year-old boy reported missing in central Fresno found

The search for a missing two-year-old is over tonight after officers found the boy just a couple blocks from where they believe he was taken.

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  • 5th member of Congress contracts COVID in post-riot surge

    A fifth member of Congress has tested positive for COVID-19 following last week’s lockdown at the Capitol — a surge of cases that had been predicted as a result of the Jan. 6 occupation.

  • Trump supporter dead in suspected suicide days after being arrested at Capitol riot

    An Atlanta medical examiner has confirmed the death, which followed the man’s arrest last week

  • House members who evade new metal detectors will be fined $5,000 and up, Pelosi says

    The Capitol Police enacted new security measures after an armed mob marauded through the Capitol last week, including setting up magnetometers outside the House chamber to ensure that no lawmakers, staff, or visitors smuggle in firearms or incendiary devices, in violation of Capitol rules. A Capitol Police officer was among the five people who died in the siege. Several House Republicans have flouted the security meaures, walking around the metal detectors or ignoring Capitol Police after setting them off.Sadly, "many House Republicans have disrespected our [Capitol Police] heroes by verbally abusing them and refusing to adhere to basic precautions," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday night, and those magnetometer scofflaws will pay, literally.> JUST IN: Pelosi unveils plan to fine members who evade metal detectors outside House chamber. $5,000 for a first offense. $10,000 for a second. pic.twitter.com/T1AUx91L4a> > — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 14, 2021Pelosi will introduce the rule change on Jan. 21. If approved, as expected, first-time offenders will be charged $5,000, the fine rising to $10,000 for a second offense. Pelosi imposed fines earlier this week for anyone who refused to wear a face mask on the the House floor. Violators of either rule will have the fines deducted directly from their salaries.More stories from theweek.com Do Democrats realize the danger they are in? America's rendezvous with reality What 'Blue Lives Matter' was always about

  • Taliban chief tells officials to take only one wife because big weddings and dowries are depleting funds

    The head of the Afghan Taliban has ordered officials in the movement to take only one wife because extravagant weddings and bridal payments are depleting funds and leading to accusations of embezzlement. The edict from Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada was also an attempt to quash bad publicity that Taliban leaders were having profligate weddings. “We instruct officials of the Islamic Emirate, in accordance with Islamic Sharia [Islamic jurisprudence], to avoid second, third, and fourth marriage if there is no need,” he said in a written message earlier this month, Voice of America reported. Taliban officials have been instructed to share the order with their subordinates after complaints about the scale of spending on weddings. Afghans face huge social pressure to spend lavishly on their nuptials, while the groom must also often pay a hefty sum to the bride's family. Wives are sometimes kept in separate houses, meaning a groom must fund several households. “Up-to two million Afghanis (nearly £19,000) are paid for dowry in some parts of Afghanistan and the Taliban officials would seek this money for their second marriage,” one source told the broadcaster. The movement has also sometimes faced internal tensions as frontline fighters resent the movement's leadership appearing to lead the high life in Pakistan or Doha. “Families of several officials of the Islamic Emirate do not have a lot of money. Therefore, more marriages could affect their prestige, trustworthiness, and personality,” the message said. The message urged the movement to “protect yourself against accusation and disgrace,” adding that “transparency” and “gaining trust” were essential for their struggle. Abstaining from multiple marriages would protect the Taliban from “accusations of bribery, misappropriation, or embezzlement” and save them from seeking illicit sources of wealth. Akhundzada told followers that the orders were based on Islamic injunctions and have the support of religious scholars. Islam allows men to have up to four wives as long as they are treated equally, though the practice is frowned upon and uncommon in many Muslim societies. The message said there were exemptions to the new rule for officials who had a “legitimate need” or who used their own funds for weddings.

  • The Confederate battle flag, which rioters flew inside the US Capitol, has long been a symbol of white insurrection

    A historic first: the Confederate battle flag inside the U.S. Capitol. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesConfederate soldiers never reached the Capitol during the Civil War. But the Confederate battle flag was flown by rioters in the U.S. Capitol building for the first time ever on Jan. 6. The flag’s prominence in the Capitol riot comes as no surprise to those who, like me, know its history: Since its debut during the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag has been flown regularly by white insurrectionists and reactionaries fighting against rising tides of newly won Black political power. An 1897 lithograph shows changes in Confederate flag design. The ‘Southern Cross’ design, chosen to visually distinguish Confederates from Union soldiers in battle, became a symbol of white insurrection. Library of Congress via National Geographic The infamous diagonal blue cross with white stars on a red background was never the Confederacy’s official symbol. The Confederacy’s original “stars and bars” design was too similar to the U.S. flag, which led to confusion on the battlefields, where troop positions were marked by flags. The official flag went through a series of changes in attempts to distinguish Confederate from Union troops. The Confederacy would ultimately adopt the “Southern Cross” as its battle flag – cementing it as a symbol of white insurrection. While it is technically the battle flag, it has been used the most, and therefore has become known more generally as the Confederate flag. The Confederate battle flag figures prominently in this depiction of the 1864 battle of Franklin, Tennessee. Kurz and Allison, restoration by Adam Cuerden, via Wikimedia Commons The original emblem Six decades before the Nazi swastika became an instantly recognizable symbol of white supremacists, the Confederate battle flag flew over the forces of the insurgent Confederate States of America – military troops organized in revolt against the idea that the federal government could outlaw slavery. The founding documents of the Confederacy make its goals of white supremacy and preservation of slavery explicitly clear. In March 1861, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens declared of the Confederacy, “its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.” The documents drafted by seceding states make this same point. Mississippi’s declaration, for instance, was very specific: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world.” Rioting white students at University of Mississippi hoist a Confederate battle flag in a backlash against James Meredith’s attendance as the first Black student in 1962. Bettman via Getty Images Backlash against racial integration After the Civil War, Confederate veterans groups used the flag at their meetings to commemorate fallen soldiers, but otherwise the flag mostly disappeared from public life. After World War II, though, the flag surfaced as part of a backlash against racial integration. Black soldiers who fought discrimination abroad experienced discrimination when they came home. Racist violence against Black veterans who had returned from battle prompted President Harry Truman to issue an executive order desegregating the military and banning discrimination in federal hiring. Truman also asked Congress to pass a federal ban on lynching, one of nearly 200 unsuccessful attempts to do so. In 1948, the retaliation for Truman’s integration efforts came, and the Confederate battle flag resurfaced as a symbol of white supremacist public intimidation. That year, U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, a South Carolina Democrat, ran for president as the leader of a new political party of segregationist Southern Democrats, nicknamed the “Dixiecrats.” At their rallies and riots, they opposed Truman’s integration under the banner of the Confederate battle flag. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, white Southerners flew the Confederate battle flag at riots – including violent ones – to oppose racial integration, especially in schools. For example, in 1962, white students at the University of Mississippi hoisted it at a riot defying James Meredith’s enrollment as the university’s first Black student. It took the deployment of 30,000 U.S. troops, federal marshals and National Guardsmen to get Meredith to class after the violent race riot left two dead. Historian William Doyle called the riot – which featured the Confederate battle flag at its center – an “American insurrection.” Charleston, Charlottesville and the Capitol More recently, the Black Lives Matter era has seen an increase in violent incidents involving the Confederate battle flag. It has now featured prominently in at least three recent major violent events carried out by people on the far right. In 2015, a white supremacist who had posed with the Confederate battle flag online killed nine Black parishioners during a prayer meeting at their church. In 2017, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists carried the battle flag when they marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, seeking to prevent the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. One white supremacist drove his car through a crowd of anti-racist counterprotestors, killing Heather Heyer. [Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.] At the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, an image of an insurrectionist toting the Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol building arguably distills the siege’s dark historical context. In the background of the photo are the portraits of two Civil War-era U.S. senators – one an ardent proponent of slavery and the other an abolitionist once beaten unconscious for his views on the Senate floor. A man carries the Confederate battle flag in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, between portraits of senators who both opposed and supported slavery. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images The flag has always represented white resistance to increasing Black power. It may be a coincidence of exact timing, but certainly not of context, that the riot happened the day after Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won U.S. Senate seats representing Georgia. Respectively, they are the first Black and first Jewish senators from the former Confederate state. Warnock will be only the second Black senator from below the Mason-Dixon Line since Reconstruction. Their historic victories – and President-elect Joe Biden’s – in Georgia happened through large-scale organizing and turnout of people of color, especially Black people. Since 2014, nearly 2 million voters have been added to the rolls in Georgia, signaling a new bloc of Black voting power. It should come as no surprise, then, that today’s white insurrectionists opposed to the shifting tides of power identify with the Confederate battle flag.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Jordan Brasher, Columbus State University. Read more:Capitol siege raises questions over extent of white supremacist infiltration of US policeA second impeachment is just the start of Trump’s legal woes Jordan Brasher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

  • National Guardsman first known current service member to be charged over Capitol riot

    Jacob Fracker, an off duty police officer charged in connection with the violent riots at the U.S. Capitol, is a member of the Virginia National Guard, an official said on Thursday, becoming the first known person currently in the military to be arrested over last week's events. President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, forcing lawmakers to flee the inner chambers of the building, fearing for their lives. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice said Fracker, along with another off duty police officer, Thomas Robertson, were charged after they were photographed inside the Capitol "making an obscene statement in front of a statue of (Revolutionary hero) John Stark."

  • Waitress credited with helping boy after noticing bruises

    A Florida waitress who noticed bruises on an 11-year-old boy flashed him a handwritten note asking him if he needed help, and when he nodded yes, she called the police, authorities said. Orlando police credited Flaviane Carvalho, a waitress at Mrs. Potato Restaurant, with coming to the boy's aid on New Year's Eve when the child’s parents weren’t looking. Police took the boy to a hospital where doctors found bruises on his face, earlobes and arms.

  • S.Korea court upholds jail for ex-president Park

    South Korea's Supreme Court upheld a 20-year jail sentence on Thursday for former President Park Geun-hye. This brings an end to a legal process that began in 2017 when Park was removed from office and arrested on corruption charges. She was found guilty of colluding with a confidante to receive tens of billions of won from major conglomerates for her family and to fund non-profits she owned. Her case has been tried in several courts over several years, but the Supreme Court's decision exhausted her legal avenues. Park has denied wrongdoing and with her legal process over, her supporters are calling for a presidential pardon. Park is the daughter of a military dictator and was elected in 2013 as the first woman to be President of South Korea. South Korean support for a possible pardon for Park is split down the middle. A Realmeter poll found nearly 48% are in favor of a pardon and 48% are against. The right-wing Our Republican Party issued a statement claiming Park's innocence and calling on her to be freed. A top aide to liberal President Moon Jae-in said the president's decision on whether to pardon Park or not will reflect the will of the people.

  • Lawmakers who reportedly criticised Capitol metal detectors voted for them to stop school gun violence

    Several Republicans seen not complying with the new safety check, reports said

  • Chicago Mayor Calls to Reopen Restaurants to Mitigate Risk of Underground Parties

    Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called to reopen the city’s restaurants and bars on Thursday, saying the measure would help curb the spread of underground parties that pose a relatively greater risk of spreading the coronavirus. Illinois’s mitigation plan forced the closure of indoor dining in Chicago in October. While nearly ever major city in the U.S. has severely limited or outright banned indoor dining to control the spread of the coronavirus, Lightfoot called to reinstitute indoor dining with precautions. “People are engaging in risky behavior that is not only putting themselves at risk, but putting their families, their co-workers, and other ones at risk. Let’s bring it out of the shadows,” Lightfoot told reporters on Thursday, in comments reported by CBS Chicago. The mayor was referring to underground parties held by residents. “Let’s allow them to have some recreation in restaurants, in bars, where we can actually work with responsible owners and managers to regulate and protect people from COVID-19,” Lightfoot added. The mayor has attempted to avoid blaming indoor dining for spreading coronavirus, saying in October that a rise in cases in Chicago was not linked to restaurants. “That’s not what we’re seeing in the data at all,” Lightfoot told reporters at the time. Chicago is currently in Illinois’s “tier 3” of coronavirus restrictions, which bars indoor dining and puts capacity limits on other businesses. Restaurants across the northern U.S. are struggling to maintain outdoor dining in the middle of winter. Dozens of restaurants in Chicago have permanently closed, according to Timeout. Chicago has recorded over 424,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, and close to 9,000 residents have died after contracting the illness. The city has also struggled with mass riots, protests, and looting in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed by Minneapolis police in late May. Looters overran Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, a noted shopping district, in August.

  • North Korea unveils 'world's strongest weapon' at military parade

    Wearing a giant furry hat, black leather jacket and a beaming smile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un introduced “the world’s strongest weapon” – a new submarine-launched ballistic missile – at a nighttime parade on Thursday in Pyongyang. The display of North Korea’s military might followed a rare congress of the ruling Workers' Party, during which leader Kim denounced the United States as his country's “foremost principal enemy” and vowed to strengthen the North’s nuclear war deterrent. On Friday, the reclusive regime’s state media released 100 photos of a mass celebration of the national armory, including tanks and rocket launchers, all flanked by rows of marching soldiers, noticeably not wearing masks. Military aircraft were illuminated by LED lights as they flew overhead in formation. “They’d like us to notice that they’re getting more proficient with larger solid rocket boosters,” tweeted Ankit Panda, a North Korea expert and author of ‘Kim Jong Un and the Bomb’, as the parade unfolded in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung square. As the spectacle reached its climax, the military rolled out what analysts said appeared to be new variants of solid-fuel short-range ballistic missiles – which are more quickly deployed than liquid-fuelled versions - and four Pukguksong-class submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

  • Texas megachurch pastor sent to prison for fraud scheme

    Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, 67, was sentenced Wednesday in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he and his co-defendant, Gregory A. Smith, were indicted in 2018. Caldwell, who in March pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was the senior pastor of Houston's Windsor Village United Methodist Church, which has about 14,000 members. According to federal prosecutors, Caldwell and Smith, a Shreveport-based investment adviser, used their clout and influence to persuade people to invest about $3.5 million in historical Chinese bonds.

  • AOC feared ‘White Supremacist members of Congress’ would turn her over to Trump rioters during siege

    As the fallout continues following last Wednesday’s Capitol insurrection, Democratic New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to her social media this week to share the terror she experienced that day – at times fearing her own congressional colleagues would turn her over to the angry mob to be killed. Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”?

  • Secret Service reportedly had to use Obama's bathroom after being barred from Ivanka Trump's

    Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have spent the past few years living in a six bedroom, 6.5 bathroom rented home in Washington, D.C.'s exclusive Kalorama neighborhood. The family could count high-profile officials and even one former president among their neighbors — as well as their own Secret Service detail, who had to rent a nearby apartment to use the bathroom because they weren't allowed inside the Kushner-Trump home, neighbors and law enforcement sources tell The Washington Post.It's not unusual for Secret Service agents to stay out of the typically expansive homes they're guarding, instead using a garage or auxiliary building as their home base, the Post notes. But Kushner and Trump took that to an extreme, forcing the Secret Service to install a porta-potty outside their home just so they had somewhere to relieve themselves, sources said. The unsightly outdoor bathroom was taken down after neighbors complained.That's when the Kushner-Trump detail started using a bathroom in the Obama family's nearby garage. But they were kicked out when "a Secret Service supervisor from the Trump-Kushner detail left an unpleasant mess in the Obama bathroom," the Post notes. Agents then headed to to Vice President Mike Pence's home a mile away to use the toilet or, when time was short, counted on nearby restaurants and even knocked on neighbors' doors. One of those neighbors eventually ended up renting a $3,000/month basement studio to the agents, making $144,000 in taxpayer money by the time the lease expires this September.A White House spokesperson denied Trump and Kushner barred Secret Service from their home, saying it was the force's choice not to come inside — something one law enforcement officer disputed. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com Do Democrats realize the danger they are in? America's rendezvous with reality What 'Blue Lives Matter' was always about

  • Pence vows to honor U.S. history, ensure safe inauguration of new president

    U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday vowed to uphold American history and ensure a safe transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden, eight days after supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump laid siege to the U.S. Capitol. Pence made the remarks before a security briefing at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and during a meeting with National Guard troops guarding the U.S. Capitol, where Pence was among top U.S. officials forced into hiding during last week's attack.

  • Indonesia earthquake: Hospital flattened as deadly magnitude 6.2 tremor rocks Sulawesi island

    A strong, shallow earthquake shook Indonesia’s Sulawesi island just after midnight, causing landslides and sending people fleeing from their homes in the nighttime darkness. At least four people died and 637 others were injured in Majene, while there were three more fatalities and two dozen injured in the the neighbouring province of Mamuju, a city of some 110,000 in West Sulawesi province. Indonesian officials said they were still collecting information from devastated areas. Rescuers searched for more than a dozen patients and staff trapped beneath the rubble of a hospital in Mamuju that was flattened. "The hospital is flattened - it collapsed," said Arianto from the rescue agency in Mamuju city, who goes by one name. "There are patients and hospital employees trapped under the rubble and we're now trying to reach them," he added, without giving a specific figure. Rescuers were also trying to reach a family of eight trapped under the rubble of their destroyed home, he added.

  • Capitol rioter pictured with Pelosi lectern promises not to return to DC as lawyer says only a ‘magician’ could get him off

    His lawyer said he has been receiving death threats and would like to ‘like to just get home to his family’

  • A Fake National Guard Memo Warning of Nationwide Lockdown Is Circulating Again

    The document first began circulating in March as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in America.

  • Netflix Crime Series to Explore the Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam at 'Serial Killer' Hotel

    An upcoming Netflix docuseries will look at the disappearance and death of Canadian tourist Elisa Lam, who stayed at the infamous Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles in 2013. The details: The docuseries, titled “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel,” was revealed this week by executive producer and director Joe Berlinger, according to Variety. The series attempts to deconstruct what happened to the 21-year-old Canadian student during her stay at the Cecil Hotel.

  • Lindsey Graham seemingly takes a swipe at McConnell while solidifying opposition to impeachment

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has had a whirlwind of a week.After the deadly riot at the United States Capitol last Wednesday, he threw cold water on his Republican colleagues' Electoral College challenges, saying "enough is enough," which led to him getting harassed by Trump supporters at the airport. But just a few days later he was on a plane with President Trump en route to Texas for a border wall event. Most recently, he came out strongly against impeaching Trump.In a statement Wednesday, Graham echoed fellow Republican lawmakers who argue impeachment would only further divide the country, since Trump is heading out of office soon anyway.Graham criticized Democrats for moving forward with the "snap impeachment," accusing them of attempting a "do-over" after last year's impeachment, which ultimately stalled in the Senate. But he had sharp words for his own party, as well, saying that Republicans who "legitimize this process" are "doing great damage not only to the country, the future of the presidency, but also to the party" since he thinks it would unfairly "demonize" Trump voters at-large because of the "actions of a seditious mob." Without naming him, Graham also appeared to take a shot at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is reportedly pleased Democrats are impeaching Trump again. > .@LindseyGrahamSC makes clear again he's opposed to impeachment, saying it's "the last thing the country needs." > Also includes this line: "As to Senate leadership, I fear they are making the problem worse, not better." pic.twitter.com/RFavpMd5uC> > -- Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) January 13, 2021More stories from theweek.com Do Democrats realize the danger they are in? America's rendezvous with reality What 'Blue Lives Matter' was always about