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Trump’s allies want him to keep the government shut down
Allies of President Donald Trump are pushing him to continue to hold out for a deal to reopen the government, believing that any hits he takes will be worth the fight.
They say it's too early for the president to cave just 12 days into the partial shutdown and that the Republican base that elected him wants to see him make border wall funding a priority.
Some of those allies also believe that with Democrats taking over the House this week, the blame for the shutdown might be shared or eventually shift away from just Trump. Weeks ago, the president said he would be “proud” to shut down the government over funding for the wall.
Meanwhile:
👉 In his first Cabinet meeting of 2019, the president said walls work in front of a giant poster memeing Game of Thrones, in which a wall did not work.
👉 No one can get a marriage license in DC during the government shutdown. A couple was turned away.
👉 The shutdown has left DC full of trash.
👉 National parks are closing because of a build-up of poop and trash.
SNAPSHOTS
A 7-year-old girl was shot and killed while riding in a car with her family. Jazmine Barnes died after a man pulled up and fired into the car in what authorities described as an unprovoked attack. An intense search for the killer is underway. It doesn't appear that the driver, described as a bearded white man in his forties, knew Barnes and her family.
A 15-year-old killed himself after accidentally shooting his 17-year-old friend dead on New Year’s Eve. Devin Hodges was showing off a handgun to his three friends inside a shed when it went off, killing Chad Carless. Police say Hodges shot himself as officers were arriving on the scene.
A porn director was suspended after a performer said he sexually assaulted her. Lily Adams accused Alan Eigen, who specializes in lesbian films, of raping her when she went on a “go-see,” or audition, for possible work.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are expecting another baby. The couple will have their fourth child via surrogate. Multiple outlets reported that the baby boy is due in May.
Netflix wants people to be careful doing the Bird Box challenge. Guys, don’t blindfold yourself and then walk into things. It’s not a good idea.
The Coachella lineup has been announced, and it is perfect. Ariana Grande will be just the fourth female artist — and the youngest woman ever — to headline the event. The full list, including Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, and Janelle Monáe, can be found right here.
The Nazis killed 25% of the Holocaust’s victims in just three months, a study has found
Some 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust by the Nazi regime and its collaborators during World War II. The deadliest murder campaign in the racist genocide — Operation Reinhard — killed roughly 1.7 million Jews from 1942 to 1943.
As Soviet armies closed in on Berlin, German forces retreated. In their retreat, they destroyed many of the records of these murders, so scholars have struggled to estimate those tolls.
Now, a new study has used archival railway records to calculate for the first time the month-to-month rate at which the Nazis killed Jewish people during Operation Reinhard.
Biomathematician Lewi Stone of Tel Aviv University estimates that the Nazis killed almost 1.5 million Jews in just three months in 1942, a rate of murder remarkably higher than previously thought.
10 harmful diet culture phrases you should probably stop using
The beginning of the year is a wonderful time of renewal. For some people, that means setting broad intentions. For others, it means creating a list of resolutions to keep and stress about.
If resolutions are your thing, you will find no judgment from me. But sometimes those resolutions involve using outdated phrases about dieting that encourage unhealthy attitudes toward food.
For example, it’s time to do away with saying “this food is bad” — food is just food, and has no moral value. We put together a list of phrases to leave behind in 2018.