The Justice Department deleted language about press freedom and racial gerrymandering from its internal manual
First, the background: Since the fall of last year, the DOJ has been making changes to its manual for prosecutors.
What is it? It’s called the US Attorneys’ Manual, which is a bit of a misnomer — federal prosecutors in US attorney offices across the country use it, but so do other Justice Department lawyers.
Sounds important. Yep. It communicates high-level statements about department policies and priorities. It also includes practical guidance to prosecutors on how to do their jobs.
So what happened? A section called “Need for Free Press and Public Trial” is out. The language about limits on prosecutorial power has been toned down. References to the DOJ’s work on racial gerrymandering are gone.
Did anything else change? Some changes are not especially noteworthy. Some long paragraphs were split up. Citations to repealed laws have been removed.
What does the DOJ say about the changes made? A spokesperson said they don’t comment on specific changes, but told us the manual is meant to be a “quick and ready reference,” not a list of every constitutional right and every law in the country.
Is this normal? The last major update to the manual was in 1997. The DOJ says it’s been a while since it’s been reviewed and updated.
What happens next? Notice will go out when the review is done.
Quick brief:
French first lady Brigitte Macron says she likes Melania Trump but feels bad for her because “she can’t do anything, she can’t even open a window at the White House.”
Gina Haspel, President Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, is telling senators the agency should stay out of interrogations.
Whole Foods just opened a 365 store with a restaurant named Yellow Fever, and people are like WTF.
Everyone is on edge as the migrant caravan finally arrives at the US border
On Sunday, about 50 asylum-seekers — the first group from the Central American caravan to approach the entryway to the US — walked into the San Ysidro Port of Entry, just south of San Diego.
US border authorities have not yet allowed them to apply for asylum. The asylum-seekers were told by US Customs and Border Patrol the facility was at capacity.
US law requires that asylum-seekers be given a fair hearing.
If migrants say they are afraid to return to their country of origin, they have to be processed and held until an asylum officer can determine if their claims are credible.
It is still not clear what will happen to them in the long run — remember that the US president and attorney general have called the caravan a threat to national security.
Two rush-hour suicide bombs in Kabul have killed at least 25 people
The attack, in which two coordinated explosions rocked the Afghan capital, also injured at least 45 people.
The second explosion was timed to take place as emergency workers and the media had gathered in response to the first attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Six journalists are among the dead, including five members of local media and a photographer from the international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).
AFP said Shah Marai, its chief photographer, was killed by the second explosion after arriving to cover the first one.
Earlier this month at least 57 people were killed in a bomb attack outside a voter registration center in Kabul.
Avengers: Infinity War killed it at the box office, because of course
You know when a thing is so big you can’t not talk about it? Yeah, that.
Avengers: Infinity War has, to be polite about it, destroyed global box office records. Its opening raked in $630 million worldwide. That blows away the record previously held by The Fate of the Furious ($542 million, if you’re curious).
Domestically, it set the new box office record at $250 million.
In one weekend, the movie has already made more than Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Ant-Man, Thor, Captain America, and The Incredible Hulk earned in their entire global box office runs.
Also — no spoilers — but that ending, though. If you need to talk about it, email me back. We broke down what it means here.
PSST
We’re launching a brand new docuseries that I’m so excited about. It’s called Future History 1968, and it lets you witness one of the wildest years in history the way you watch news now.
The first episode is up. Eartha Kitt was a colossal star and self-described "sex kitten" in 1968 — until an anti-war speech at the White House made her a target of the FBI and CIA. Watch it all unfold on your phone.
Silicon Valley can’t be trusted with our history
For all the fuss we make about our amazing access to information in 2018, here’s something we don’t talk about often: That access is incredibly fleeting, and not in our control.
We trust massive internet platforms to keep a record of the history we curate online.
But what happens when those companies make decisions we can’t control? For example, observers of the Syrian civil war realized that YouTube was removing tens of thousands of videos documenting the conflict.
Researcher Evan Hill’s opinion piece argues that information being ephemeral “has been a blessing for governments looking to rewrite history.”
His point is distilled in this sentence: “A tweet that was meant to be forgotten within minutes resurfaces years later to cost someone their job, while a video providing unambiguous evidence of war crimes disappears without a trace.”
It’s a fascinating piece. I highly recommend it.
A woman in Ohio was arrested for stealing a butterfly
Jamie Revis, 36, was detained and charged with one count of theft for allegedly stealing a rare butterfly from Cincinnati’s Krohn Conservatory on April 15.
According to reports, a woman was spotted trying to leave the conservatory with a blue morpho butterfly. A staff member then confronted her and tried to prevent her from leaving.
Yes, absolutely, there is video.