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    ‘No Kings’ demonstrator dies after being shot at Utah protest, police say

    A demonstrator who was shot on Saturday during Salt Lake City’s “No Kings” protest has died, Utah police said on Sunday afternoon.The man, Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, had apparently been shot by a man who had been part of the event’s peacekeeping team.“Our victim was not the intended target,” Brian Redd, the Salt Lake City police chief, said, “but rather an innocent bystander participating in the demonstration.”Arturo Gamboa, 24, was taken into police custody on Saturday evening on a murder charge, said Redd at a Sunday news conference. Ah Loo had been taken to the hospital on Saturday evening, where he died from his wounds.Redd said a man in a brightly colored vest fired three shots from a handgun at Gamboa, inflicting a relatively minor injury to Gamboa but fatally shooting Ah Loo.Two of the peacekeepers in neon vests allegedly saw Gamboa separate from the crowd of marchers in downtown Salt Lake City, move behind a wall and retrieve a rifle around 8pm, Redd said.When the two men in vests confronted Gamboa with their handguns drawn, witnesses said Gamboa raised his rifle into a firing position and ran toward the crowd, said Redd.That’s when one of the men in the bright vests shot three rounds, hitting Gamboa and Ah Loo, said Redd. Gamboa, who police said didn’t have a criminal history, was wounded and treated before being booked into jail.Detectives don’t yet know why Gamboa pulled out a rifle or ran from the peacekeepers, but they accused him of creating the dangerous situation that led to Ah Loo’s death. The Associated Press did not immediately find an attorney listed for Gamboa or contact information for his family in public records.The gunshots sent hundreds of protestors running, some hiding behind barriers and fleeing into parking garages and nearby businesses, police said in a statement. “That’s a gun. Come on, come on, get out,” someone can be heard saying in a video posted to social media that appears to show the events.No Kings protests swept across the country on Saturday, and organizers said millions rallied against what they described as Donald Trump’s authoritarian excesses. Confrontations were largely isolated.The Utah chapter of the 50501 movement, which helped organize the protests, said in a statement on Instagram that they condemned the violence.The Utah chapter did not immediately respond to AP questions about the peacekeeping team. It was unclear who hired them, whether they were volunteers or what their training was prior to the event. Redd said that the peacekeepers’ actions are also part of the investigation.Police said they recovered an AR-15 style rifle, a gas mask and a backpack at the scene. More

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    Trump vetoed Israeli plan to kill Iran’s supreme leader – report

    President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two US officials told Reuters on Sunday.“Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” said one of the sources, a senior US administration official.The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top US officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched a massive attack on Iran in a bid to halt its nuclear program.They said the Israelis reported that they had an opportunity to kill the top Iranian leader, but Trump waved them off of the plan.The officials would not say whether Trump himself delivered the message. But Trump has been in frequent communications with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.When asked about Reuters report, Netanyahu, in an interview on Sunday with Fox News Channel’s Special Report With Bret Baier, said: “There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that.”“But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we’ll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States,” Netanyahu said.Trump has been holding out hope for a resumption of US-Iranian negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. Talks that had been scheduled for Sunday in Oman were canceled as a result of the strikes.Trump told Reuters on Friday that “we knew everything” about the Israeli strikes. More

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    ‘South Side’ Pope Leo offers video message to Chicagoans at ballpark mass

    Pope Leo XIV, born in Dolton, Illinois, and a White Sox baseball fan, has been anointed by Chicagoans as the “South Side Pope”, appearing via video on Saturday at the White Sox ballpark to offer a message to young people.At a mass organized by the archdiocese of Chicago in honor of the new pope, attendees wore baseball jerseys while nuns in habits congregated near the entrance. Others dressed up in slacks and ties, and the sound of “Pope parking!” echoed through a megaphone from a nearby parking lot.There were Pope Leo jerseys, fans wearing head-to-toe papal outfits, and even a mural painted at the stadium. Fans made pilgrimages to seat two in row 19 of section 140, where he sat at the playoff game.Last year, the team set the record for most losses in a single season. Some are hoping for a little holy intervention in this year’s season.View image in fullscreenSaturday’s event kicked off at 2.30pm with an introduction from Chuck Swirsky, the play-by-play voice of the Chicago Bulls, music from the Leo high school choir and Luis Galvez, and a panel discussion with Pope Leo’s former teacher and a high school classmate.The first American pope, although unable to attend the mass in person, shared a video message addressing the youth of the world displayed on the jumbotron at the stadium.In his video, Pope Leo said that young people, having lived through times of isolation and great difficulty in the pandemic, may have missed out on the opportunity to live as a part of a faith community. He encouraged young people to look into their hearts, “to recognize God is present”, in a seven-minute video message.The pontiff informed those watching that they are giving hope to many people in the world and that they are a source of “promoting peace [and] promoting harmony among all peoples”.Sandra Alders, from the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood, brought her two children to the event to experience this unique moment.“I just wanted my children to hear a message of inspiration,” she said.Alders hopes Pope Leo will appeal to young people who don’t feel connected to any church or any religion.“I want my children to feel like they belong, and I think him being someone we can connect to in our community is a great start,” she said.Jenn Wilson, a South Side transplant living in Evanston, said: “I don’t know if a ballpark mass will make mainstream Catholicism cool for the kids. My own kids thought it was cool to have a Chicago Pope, but they’re also not rushing to mass.”Before the mass, Wilson said she was hopeful that there would be remarks that defy the current political state of America, as “they are in direct conflict with the philosophy of the Catholicism I was taught.”Starting at 4pm ET, an extravagant mass began at the stadium when the smell of incense wafted in the air as the entrance procession began. Like most masses, priests, bishops and altar servers walked with crosses and candles – except this time it was on a baseball field that holds 40,000 spectators.Underneath the Miller Time and Caesars Sportsbook signs, the Chicago cardinal, Blase Cupich, led the mass by saying: “I think I’m going to remember this moment as a sermon on the mound.”While Pope Leo didn’t directly touch on politics, Cupich said in his homily that while countries have a duty to secure their borders, “it is wrong to scapegoat those who are here without documents, for indeed they are here due to a broken immigration system.” Cupich has long been an advocate of respecting human rights and has spoken out against deportations.He went on to say that immigrants are here not by invasion but by invitation.“An invitation to harvest the fruits of the Earth to feed our families, an invitation to clean our tables, hotels and motel rooms. An invitation to landscape our lawns and, yes, even an invitation to take care of our children and our elderly,” he said.Ray Pingoy, the senior coordinator for Respect Life and Chastity Education for the Archdiocese of Chicago, asked world leaders in the Tagalog language to “respect in both word and deed the dignity of human person, especially immigrants and refugees.”The mass notably coincided with the thousands of “No Kings” protests around the country, and right before Donald Trump’s military parade.Words of pro-immigration were met with cheers and applause.Andrew DiMaggio drove from the suburbs and said he “couldn’t miss out on this opportunity as a White Sox fan. He’s our South Side Pope!”Wilson said she “never expected an American Pope, much less a Chicago Pope”.“At this moment, it feels like we have some acknowledgment as American Catholics to bring important things to the faith as a whole,” she said. “We bring a different sensibility that is based on basic kindness and pragmatism.” More

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    Manhunt continues for suspect in shootings of Minnesota lawmakers

    The hunt for the man suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses while impersonating a police officer, killing one legislator and her husband, continued on Sunday more than 24 hours after the killings.Vance Boelter, 57, now on the FBI’s most wanted list, is believed to have left the Minneapolis region after allegedly gunning down Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home, according to CNN. Boelter is also suspected of shooting Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their residence, gravely injuring them; a relative posted on Facebook that they were out of surgery and recovering.Authorities have disseminated photos of Boelter to border patrol agents in case he tries fleeing to Canada, CNN said.The Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar said on Sunday that authorities believe Boelter remains in the midwest. Klobuchar said on NBC’s Meet The Press that “he may be” in Minnesota and that law enforcement has issued an alert in South Dakota.“We believe he’s somewhere in the vicinity and that they are going to find him,” Klobuchar said. “But right now, everyone is on edge here because we know that this man will kill at a second.”An emergency alert was issued in Sibley county, which is approximately one hour from Minneapolis, around 12pm after Boelter’s vehicle was discovered, according to local Fox anchor Chenue Her. “Officials are telling residents nearby to take precaution as they continue searching for Boelter,” Her also reported.Klobuchar urged the public to be cautious if they see Boelter, warning they “should not approach him, that they should immediately call the tip lines and report”.View image in fullscreenPolice responded to a shooting at Hoffman’s house at about 2am local time, then went to check on Hortman, who lives approximately 9 miles away. When they arrived there around 3.30am they encountered Boelter, who was dressed as a police officer. They said he exchanged shots with them before escaping on foot.Hoffman’s nephew, Mat Ollig, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that both were recovering from surgery. In a Facebook post, Ollig said that Yvette saved their daughter’s life.“Early this morning, an absolute vile piece of shit dressed as a cop broke into my aunt and uncle’s house and shot him 6 and my aunt 5 times in a political act of terrorism. My aunt threw herself on her daughter, using her body as a shield to save her life,” Ollig wrote.“These two are the kindest, most giving and caring people I know. He went into politics to help people with disabilities get the care they need, and she works with young school children. They have always been there for me and everyone in our family and community.”Police said Boelter’s uniform might appear authentic to most people.Boelter also drove a vehicle that appeared identical to an SUV police squad car, said Mark Bruley, a local police chief. “It was equipped with lights, emergency lights, that looked exactly like a police vehicle, and yes, they were wearing a vest with Taser, other equipment, a badge very similar to mine, that, no question, if they were in this room, you would assume that they are a police officer,” Bruley said.Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said the murders appear “to be a politically motivated assassination”.The Federal Bureau of Investigation has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to Boelter’s apprehension and conviction. He was added to the FBI’s most wanted list on Saturday.Before the attacks he reportedly contacted two friends by text message, which they read aloud to the Star Tribune: “I made some choices, and you guys don’t know anything about this, but I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way.”He added: “I don’t want to say anything more and implicate you in any way because you guys don’t know anything about this. But I love you guys and I’m sorry for all the trouble this has caused.”Authorities reportedly said that Boelter left a list of potential targets at the shooting scene. Multiple outlets have reported that it included pro-choice lawmakers, as well as reproductive health clinics.“There clearly was some through line with abortion because of the groups that were on the list, and other things that I’ve heard were in this manifesto. So that was one of his motivations,” Klobuchar said.She also urged the public not to make any assumptions and allow investigators to work. “But again, they’re also checking out, did he have interaction somehow with these without legislators? Is there more to this?”The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that 11 lawmakers in the state of Wisconsin were also among the targets listed in Boelter’s alleged manifesto.Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, said on MSNBC that he expects to convene with congressional leaders to discuss ramping up security for lawmakers across the country in the wake of the deadly attacks.“This should be another wakeup call amongst many that have happened over the last several years, including, of course, the violent attack on the Capitol that took place on January 6,” Jeffries said. More

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    Trump coveted a military spectacle but his parade proved underwhelming: ‘Just kind of lame’

    On Saturday, as a crowd of thousands of people near the Washington Monument listened, a loudspeaker dramatically announced the names of America’s secretary of defense, vice-president and president. The final name received a modest roar that surely flushed the watching commander-in-chief with validation. With that, and with the boom of a 21-gun salute, the military parade that Donald Trump had coveted for years finally began.A protester, Nicky Sundt, kept a lonely and mostly silent vigil at the side of the road. She held a sign depicting a cartoon Trump brushing back his comb-over to reveal a swastika emblazoned on his forehead. The placard said “Save our democracy”. Standing near her – as a “counterprotest to the counterprotest to the protest, or something,” as one of them put it – a group of pro-Trump men held court. One was draped in an American flag. Another had a giant picture of Trump, in a crown, with the exhortation “Trump for king”.For the next couple of hours, in heat and occasional drizzle, spectators watched as the US army celebrated its 250th birthday – and, although he claims it is a coincidence, Trump’s 79th – with America’s largest and most controversial military parade in decades. Troops marched. Tanks and armored personnel carriers rolled. Helicopters clattered. Paratroopers plunged out of the overcast sky.Yet, for all of it, the parade was somehow neither the totalitarian North Korean spectacle that critics had grimly predicted, nor the triumph of Maga nationalism that Trump’s most diehard fans craved. It was just a parade – and a parade that was, for all its millions of dollars spent, controversy engendered, and exhausting security precautions, a little underwhelming.Since his first term, when he saw and was deeply impressed by a Bastille Day parade in Paris, Trump made no secret of his desire to hold a grand military review of his own. Military leaders, cognizant of the high costs and reputational issues of the idea, have in the past been resistant. Now, no longer.The event was not without problems, however. For one, the weather kept threatening to literally rain on the parade. For another, recent news developments have both distracted the world’s attention from the parade and cast an ugly pall on it.In California, national guardsmen and US marines have been deployed against the will of state authorities after Ice deportation raids have sparked widespread protests. In the Middle East, Israel’s attack on Iran has led to deadly retaliation. And early Saturday morning, an assassin impersonating a police officer shot two Democratic lawmakers and their families at their homes in Minnesota, killing a state representative and her husband and wounding a state senator and his wife.Trump’s plans for a military parade also sparked protests in many cities, including in Washington DC, where a few hundred gathered to chant, “Deportations, we say no / Now’s the time for Trump to go / Ice Gestapo, we say no / Now’s the time for Trump to go…”View image in fullscreenArmed with signs declaring “All hail Commander Bone Spur” (Trump was medically excused from serving in the Vietnam war) and “History is watching”, they marched to the White House. Trump’s attitude to the rule of law “is scary”, explained one marcher in her 20s, who asked to be identified only as Madison. “I would like to see Donald Trump impeached and imprisoned.”As she and the other leftists marched, a young man, bare chested and wearing a bucket hat, approached a demonstration marshal. He seemed confused. He wanted to know where the protest for the opposite point of view could be found.Downtown Washington was, in fact, thronged with people representing both points of view, and they could be distinguished, much of the time, on sight – with preppy attire and the occasional Maga accessory marking Trump’s fans, and Covid masks, dark clothing, and a general glower designating anti-Trumpers.The mood at the actual army parade was cordial enough, in part because the overwhelming majority of attendees seemed to be either Trump supporters, military families or mostly apolitical daytrippers who just wanted to see a parade. Yet the crowd was on the smaller side, given the magnitude of the event.Similarly, although the army’s marching went smoothly, the larger public event seemed less than well-planned. The garbage cans, few and far between, were overflowing. There weren’t enough exits. The only food source for thousands of people was a handful of food trucks with lines of 40 or 50 people waiting at each. Because the parade closed down blocks and blocks and there was a dearth of signs with clear directions, it was also extraordinarily difficult to find one’s way in or out.View image in fullscreenA secret service officer, trying to explain the general confusion, just sighed. “Nobody knows what’s going on.”A tent managed by a beverage company handed out room-temperature bottles of an energy drink, Phorm. The flavor, called Screamin’ Freedom, tasted like hard candies dissolved in water, and an advisory on the cans warned that they were not to be consumed by minors or pregnant women.Although the military has agreed to cover the estimated $25m to $45m price of the parade, including the costs of reinforcing streets to protect them against so much heavy machinery, residents of Washington have been less than thrilled. The parade’s attendees seemed to be tilted toward people who had traveled from suburban Virginia or Maryland or even further afield. At one point a young girl walked by wearing a Mennonite bonnet. It wasn’t quite Maga Woodstock, but it was close.Chelsea, a woman in her 30s wearing a Maga hat, came all the way from New Jersey. Asked what she thought of Trump’s decision to deploy the military in LA, she said, “You don’t have leadership in that state. The [Democratic politicians there] don’t seem to have a fire in them.” Trump, she argued, was taking a risk to try to help California out of a lawlessness created by the cowardice of its local politicians. This was a common sentiment.View image in fullscreenA group of women from Pennsylvania were sitting on the grass. One wore a red-white-and-blue blouse, the other a flag-printed dress. “Trump wants to keep us safe,” she said. “He’s not Hitler.”“Or a king!” one of her friends said. She defended Trump’s decision to ban transgender troops from the military, and complained that Biden had subjected the military to political correctness and DEI initiatives. “The military is not a social experiment.”A little over an hour into the parade, which was still going strong, the crowd was beginning to show some signs of restlessness. Even a few people in Maga hats appeared to be packing up their things and heading home. The first wave of hundreds of people slowly funneled through the gates, and past entrepreneurs hawking Maga gear and baseball caps with Ice written on them.A young man, asked what he thought of the parade, remarked that he was not impressed. He felt that Trump’s close association with the celebration had politicized it and “made a mockery” of the army, though it wasn’t the army’s fault.More to the point, he added, the event was “just kind of … lame”. More

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    NWSL’s Angel City wear ‘Immigrant City Football Club’ shirts after Los Angeles raids

    Angel City, Los Angeles’ NWSL team, wore shirts that proclaimed themselves “Immigrant City Football Club” before Saturday night’s game against the North Carolina Courage.The team also printed 10,000 t-shirts bearing the same message, with “Los Angeles is for Everyone” on the back in English and Spanish, and gave them to fans at the game. The move was in solidarity with immigrants in the city who have been targeted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.Protests over Donald Trump’s immigration policies broke out in Los Angeles a week ago. Members of the marines and national guard have been sent into the city and dozens of similar protests have broken out nationwide.“Football, the game that we all love, we have it here because of immigrants,” said Angel City captain Ali Riley after the game, which her team lost 2-1. “It’s played the way it is because of immigrants. This club that is such a huge part of me wouldn’t be here without immigrants.”Singer Becky G, who is one of the club’s founding investors alongside figures such as Natalie Portman and Serena Williams, also read a statement before the game. “The fabric of this city is made of immigrants,” she said. “Football does not exist without immigrants. This club does not exist without immigrants.”Women’s soccer players have a long history of speaking out on social and political issues. The US women’s national team was at the forefront of campaigning for equal pay in soccer, while stars such as Megan Rapinoe have been critical of Trump’s policies during his two terms as president.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAngel City is one of the most commercially successful women’s football teams in the world. The club’s average attendance this season is just over 17,000, the highest in the NWSL. More

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    Right back at ya! Trump’s crude but effective rhetorical standby | Chris Taylor

    Donald Trump and his allies wasted little time in branding the people protesting against immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles as “insurrectionists”. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy – particularly the vindictive kind – spoke darkly of a “violent insurrection”. JD Vance, the vice-president, inveighed against “insurrectionists carrying foreign flags” on the streets of the nation’s second-biggest city.It didn’t escape notice that an insurrection was exactly what the president was accused of instigating on 6 January 2021, when the flag being paraded through the Capitol was that of the Confederate secessionists. And that Trump hadn’t shown quite the same enthusiasm for sending in the troops then.But simply accusing the leader of the Maga movement of hypocrisy feels like such a 2015 move. It barely registers as news these days.What’s really notable is that this is the latest example of Trump’s well-honed tactic of repurposing criticisms of himself to attack his enemies.The world was first introduced to this manoeuvre on 19 October 2016 during a presidential debate in Las Vegas. When Hillary Clinton accused Trump of being Vladimir Putin’s puppet, Trump shot back: “No puppet, no puppet … No, you’re the puppet.”To many it sounded infantile, more proof of Trump’s lack of seriousness as a candidate. Back then, Twitter was the go-to platform to register reaction, as CBS reported:“‘NO, YOU’RE THE PUPPET!’ A presidential candidate just went straight up preschool on his opponent,” one person tweeted.“‘NO YOU’RE THE PUPPET’ shows how truly childish our election system has become,” someone replied.True, but these reactions underestimated the power of this simple, some would say puerile, tactic. After all, this was a time when the term “fake news” was still used in its original sense of fringe media stories that were deliberately untrue before Trump restyled it into a catch-all term for the mainstream media and anything it produces that he doesn’t like.The fact that people are now less likely to associate “fake news” with Pizzagate than with Trump’s attacks on the likes of CNN shows just how effective this switcheroo is.But its real power lies in the way it undermines the very notion of truth. If everyone’s an insurrectionist, no one is. As with Humpty Dumpty, words mean what Trump wants them to mean.The more you look, the more you see the tactic everywhere. It’s a pretty safe bet the phrase “election interference” had never tripped off Trump’s tongue before 2016, when the question of Russia’s role in helping secure his election ultimately led to the Mueller report. After he was charged with election interference following the 2020 vote, however, he accused, among others, the Biden administration, the Secret Service, Google, the British Labour party and Kamala Harris (on the – entirely false – grounds she had posted AI-created images of her rallies) of “election interference” in the 2024 contest.When Democrats accused Trump of trying to “weaponize” the Department of Justice in his attempts to illicitly stay in office after his 2020 election defeat, it was only a question of time before “weaponization” would re-emerge, rotated 180 degrees, as a favourite term in the Maga lexicon of vitriol. Once Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives in 2023, it was they who set up a formal subcommittee on “weaponization” of the federal government, to castigate their enemies. And when the Trump 2.0 administration weaponized the federal government to fire justice department officials who had participated in Jack Smith’s “election interference” case against Trump on the grounds that they had weaponized the government … we had truly stepped through the looking glass.Accusing anti-racist campaigners of racism? Check. Denouncing Jews as antisemites? Check.And it’s all helped by another apparently childish but startlingly effective tactic: repetition. Why did a majority of Republicans in 2024 believe that Biden’s election victory four years earlier was rigged despite all evidence to the contrary? Probably because Trump spent fours years, day after day, saying it was. Why did so many Americans in the 2024 election campaign insist they had been better off four years earlier despite the demonstrable fact that Covid-hit 2020 had been an economic disaster? Well, maybe Trump’s constant bragging about presiding over the “greatest economy in the history of the world” had more than a little method to it. (As the musician Mark E Smith said in another context: “It’s not repetition; it’s discipline.” You can say that again.)Trump’s rhetorical tropes may display a certain reptilian genius but there is nothing new under the sun.“The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.” So claimed a 1941 article called Churchill’s Lie Factory written by one Joseph Goebbels, who had been accused of … exactly that.

    Chris Taylor is a subeditor at the Guardian US and author of The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival, and the Making of the Garifuna More