Facing a string of sexual misconduct allegations and mounting pressure from fellow Democrats, Sen. Al Franken announced Thursday he will leave office in the coming weeks. But Franken, a former comedian, didn’t go down without taking some scathing parting shots at President Donald Trump and Republicans who have been accused of similar actions.
“I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has preyed on underage girls is running for the Senate with the full support of his party,” Franken, D-Minn., said in emotional speech on the Senate floor.
He was referring to Trump, who has also been accused of sexual misconduct, and Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama, who has faced allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls. Trump and Moore have both denied the claims.
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Sen. Al Franken holds hands with his wife, Franni Bryson, as he leaves the Capitol after announcing his resignation. Jacquelyn Martin / AP
It was late morning in an artsy cafe, the smell of coffee and baked goods sweetening the air, and Ashley Bishop sat at a table, recalling a time when she was taught that most of secular American society was worthy of contempt.
Growing up in private evangelical Christian schools, Bishop saw the world in extremes, good and evil, heaven and hell. She was taught that to dance was to sin, that gay people were child molesters and that mental illness was a function of satanic influence. Teachers at her schools talked about slavery as black immigration, and instructors called environmentalists “hippie witches.”
Bishop’s family moved around a lot when she was a child, but her family always enrolled her in evangelical schools.
So when Bishop left school in 2003 and entered the real world at 17, she felt like she was an alien landing on Planet Earth for the first time. Having been cut off from mainstream society, she felt unequipped to handle the job market and develop secular friendships. Lacking shared cultural and historical references, she spent most of her 20s holed up in her bedroom, suffering from crippling social anxiety.
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Amanda Lucier for HuffPost
Ashley Bishop didn’t find out until after she graduated from Christian schools that she was unprepared for a wider world of education.
Michael T. Slager, the white police officer whose video-recorded killing of an unarmed black motorist in North Charleston, S.C., starkly illustrated the turmoil over racial bias in American policing, was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison, after the judge in the case said he viewed the shooting as a murder.
The sentence, which was within the range of federal guidelines, was pronounced in Federal District Court in Charleston about seven months after Mr. Slager pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Walter L. Scott when he shot and killed him in April 2015. The case against Mr. Slager is one of the few instances in which a police officer has been prosecuted for an on-duty shooting.
“We have to get this type of justice, because being a police officer is one of the most powerful jobs in the country, and it should be respected,” L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer for Mr. Scott’s family, said after the hearing, which was punctuated by tears and grief. “But that doesn’t mean you’re above the law. That doesn’t mean you can do as you please.”
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Michael Slager, the former North Charleston police officer, at the Charleston County Courthouse in December 2016.CreditRandall Hill/Reuters
The British publicist who arranged the June 2016 meeting with Russians and Donald Trump Jr. sent multiple emails to a Russian participant and a member of Donald Trump’s inner circle later that summer, multiple sources told CNN, the first indication there was any follow-up after the meeting.
The emails raise new questions for congressional investigators about what was discussed at Trump Tower. Trump Jr. has for months contended that after being promised he would get dirt on Hillary Clinton, the brief meeting focused almost exclusively on the issue of Russian adoptions, saying there was no discussion with the participants after that session.
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The emails from the publicist, Rob Goldstone, were discovered by congressional investigators and raised at Wednesday’s classified hearing with Trump Jr., who said he could not recall the interactions, several sources said. None of the newly disclosed emails were sent directly to Trump Jr. They are bound to be a subject during Goldstone’s closed-door meetings with the House and Senate intelligence panels, which are expected to take place as early as next week.
Demonstrators continued pouring into the streets Thursday to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s highly controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city.
Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces across Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza strip on Thursday. Police even fired tear gas and stun grenades onto demonstrators in the city of Ramallah.
The day before in Gaza City and the city of Rafah, people chanted “Death to America,” “death to Israel” and “down with Trump.” They burned American and Israeli flags as well as photos of Trump, who alerted world leaders of the decision on Tuesday and formally announced the news Wednesday afternoon.
Demonstrators also gathered in several locations in Turkey, including both Istanbul and the country’s capital, Ankara, shouting slogans and brandishing Turkish and Palestinian flags. And Jordanian members of Parliament staged a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Amman.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has asked Deutsche Bank to share data on accounts held by U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, a person close to the matter said on Tuesday.
Germany’s largest bank received a subpoena from Mueller several weeks ago to provide information on certain money and credit transactions, the person added, confirming a report by German daily Handelsblatt published on Tuesday.
Deutsche Bank, which has loaned the Trump organization millions of dollars for real estate ventures, said it would not comment on any of its clients.
Deutsche Bank rejected demands in June by U.S. House Democrats to provide details of Trump’s finances, citing privacy laws.
Russia’s Olympic team has been barred from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea as punishment for alleged state-backed doping at the 2014 Sochi Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Tuesday.
The IOC will allow individual athletes from Russia to compete as neutrals “under strict conditions” at the PyeongChang Games, with uniforms bearing the name “Olympic Athlete from Russia.”
“This was an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport,” IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement. “The IOC [executive board] after following due process, has issued proportional sanctions for this systemic manipulation while protecting the clean athletes. This should draw a line under this damaging episode and serve as a catalyst for a more effective anti-doping system.”
. The Russian delegation walks into the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics on Feb. 7, 2014 in Sochi. Adrian Dennis / AFP – Getty Images file
Disparaging reactions to Prince Harry’s relationship with actress Meghan Markle have highlighted the racism and class snobbery that persist in British society.
The American will become the first person who identifies as biracial to join the upper echelons of the U.K.’s royal family when she marries Harry in May.
But some black women said coverage of the Los Angeles native’s roots by some media outlets is indicative of the underlying racism that they experience daily.
“I feel like racism in the U.K. is pretty insidious,” said Paula Akpan, a co-founder of Black Girl Festival which celebrates black British women. She added racism tended to be “not as openly acknowledged” as in the U.S.
. Meghan Markle has described herself as a “strong, confident mixed-race woman.” George Pimentel / Getty Images Portrait file
After six months of work, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has indicted two advisers to President Trump and accepted guilty pleas from two others in exchange for their cooperation with his probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election — a sign of mounting legal peril for the White House.
With the guilty plea Friday by former national security adviser Michael Flynn — one of Trump’s closest and most valued aides — the investigation has swept up an array of figures with intimate knowledge of the campaign, the transition and the White House.
It appears to have swiftly expanded beyond Russia’s interference in the campaign to encompass a range of activities, including contacts with Russian officials during the transition and alleged money laundering that took place long before Trump ran for office.
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Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has swept up four former Trump aides in his investigation. Two pleaded guilty and are said to be cooperating with his probe. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Sergei Kislyak, the former Russian ambassador to the U.S. One of the alleged falsehoods that led to Flynn’s indictment appears to implicate Trump’s own son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.
Court filings and multiple reports hint at an elaborate, multinational effort led by Flynn and Kushner to undermine then-President Barack Obama at the behest of then-President-elect Trump.
In December 2016, the United Nations Security Council was nearing a vote on a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. The Obama administration, then in its last full month in office, had decided not to veto the resolution, a landmark shift in U.S. policy toward Israel.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Sen. Al Franken holds hands with his wife, Franni Bryson, as he leaves the Capitol after announcing his resignation. Jacquelyn Martin / AP
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