A prominent Orthodox rabbi who was listed as a speaker for the Republican National Convention emailed his community on Friday to say that he will not actually appear at the nominating convention.

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein was set to appear in Cleveland, where Donald Trump, whose daughter Ivanka is a member of his congregation, expects to receive the Republican nomination. But hundreds of members of the Modern Orthodox Jewish community signed petitions asking him not to appear at Trump’s convention, and Lookstein quickly complied.

“The whole matter turned from rabbinic to political, something which was never intended … I have never been involved in politics,” Lookstein wrote in an email to members of his community. “Politics divides people. My life has been devoted to uniting a community.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/07/15/ivanka-trumps-rabbi-pulls-out-of-republican-convention/

Hillary Clinton has solid leads over Donald Trump in four key battleground states, according to new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist polling.

The numbers suggest that she retains an edge in the race despite her most recent struggles to move past her email controversy.

Clinton leads Trump among registered voters by 44%-35% in Virginia, 43%-35% in Colorado, 44%-37% in Florida, 44%-38% in North Carolina

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/clinton-trouncing-trump-swing-states-new-polls-show-article-1.2712895

We can also note that six people with the last name Trump – the candidate, his wife, and four of his kids – will deliver remarks at the convention, which means the number of Trumps will match the number of sitting senators who’ll address the GOP delegates.

It’s also genuinely extraordinary that Republicans have decided the first night of their convention should have a “Benghazi focus,” even after all of the party’s – and Trump’s – ridiculous conspiracy theories about the deadly 2012 attack have been discredited.

The Neues Museum in Nuremberg has filed a criminal complaint after the elderly woman wrote on the artwork with a ballpoint pen.

The 1965 piece by Arthur Koepcke, titled "Reading-work-piece," includes the phrase "Insert Words" and features a partially filled-in crossword puzzle. After it became known that she had added letters to the puzzle, the woman explained to the museum that she was simply following directions.

Museum spokesperson Eva Martin confirmed the story to the press on Thursday. "The artist had already filled in some of the boxes," Martin said, before adding that the elderly woman had taken the opportunity to fill in some of those he had left blank.

The spokesperson went on to say that it should be clear to all museum patrons that under no circumstances could people write on the artwork. "We can't put corresponding labels on every piece of artwork," Martin said.
No malicious intent
http://www.dw.com/en/nuremberg-museum-horrified-after-woman-fills-in-artwork-resembling-crossword-puzzle/a-19400502

4 Reasons Mike Pence Is the Absolute Worst

Here's why Mike Pence is a threat to progressives everywhere.

1. He signed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.
In April, Gov. Pence signed into law a bill that forbids abortion on the basis of fetal chromosomal abnormalities, including Down syndrome, among other factors. The law further bans fetal-tissue donation — requiring any aborted or miscarried fetus to be cremated or buried. And it placed onerous restrictions on abortion providers nearly identical to those that the Supreme Court recently found unconstitutional in Texas.

2. He signed a bill that made it OK for Indiana businesses to discriminate against LGBT customers.
In 2015, Pence signed a "religious freedom" law, whose sweeping language permitted Indiana businesses to refuse to serve LGBT Americans, much like Southern businesses used to discriminate against African-Americans during the days of segregation.
Backlash against the law was swift and intense. Pence was forced to quickly sign a bill amending the legislation, which the governor claimed had been subject to "mischaracterizations."

3. He blocked the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Indiana — and illegally tried to cut off federal aid to existing refugees.
In the wake of the massacre in Paris last fall, Pence issued an executive order to block the resettlement of Syrian war refugees in Indiana. Not content to keep new war widows and orphans out of the state, Pence upped the xenophobic ante by also trying to cut off federal aid to those already in the state. A federal judge blocked Pence's action, writing that the governor's order "clearly constitutes national origin discrimination" and "in no way directly, or even indirectly, promotes the safety of Indiana citizens."

4. He's an unreconstructed drug warrior.
At a time when lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are tackling the nation's drug problems with less focus on incarceration, Pence signed a bill to reinstating a mandatory minimum drug sentence. Many drug users sell drugs on the side to support their addictions. Thanks to Pence, any Indiana resident convicted twice for selling meth or heroin is now sentence to a full decade in prison. Expressing his pleasure at signing a law stripping judges of discretion in drug sentencing, Pence declared, "We need to make it clear that Indiana will not tolerate the actions of criminals."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/4-reasons-mike-pence-is-the-absolute-worst-20160714

https://m.

Three Santa Ana police officers caught on tape last year destroying cameras, throwing darts, eating what look like pot edibles and insulting a disabled cannabis patient, have been fired, a Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) spokesperson has confirmed. Brandon Matthew Sontag, Nicole Lynn Quijas and Jorge Arroyo are no longer employed by SAPD, according to Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, an SAPD spokesperson, who declined further comment, saying he was unable to discuss "personnel matters."


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After raiding Sky High, arresting several individuals and dismantling all the video surveillance equipment they could find inside the dispensary, the officers apparently thought they had found all the cameras. But a backup surveillance system with cameras inside each room showed officers joking about kicking pot activist Marla James, an amputee confined to a wheelchair who has since sued Santa Ana, in her "nub." Then, after retrieving what appear to be pot edibles from a back room, the officers begin snacking on the treats, including one officer who joked that he felt "kinda light headed."

The three officers who no longer work for SAPD were never drug-tested however. But after a lengthy internal affairs investigation, prosecutors charged them with with misdemeanor counts of petty theft and vandalism. If convicted, they face between six months and a year in prison.

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/santa-ana-police-department-fires-officers-in-pot-video-case-7340514

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2255923.1434115485!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/potshop13n-2-web.jpg

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/calif-mom-arrested-leaving-kids-desert-104-degree-day-article-1.2711166

California mom dumped her three kids in the desert on a scorching summer day as a sick form of punishment, deputies said.

Mary Bell, 34, and her boyfriend, 29-year-old Gary Cassle, were arrested Wednesday after police found her children — a 7-year-old girl and two boys, ages 6 and 5 — wandering around San Bernardino County without shoes or water, the Sherriff’s Department said in a statement.

Officers found the children near the city of Twentynine Palms, where the temperature reached a sweltering 104 degrees Wednesday.

The couple told investigators they left the kids as a form of discipline.

Angry Uber driver yells ‘Get out of my car’ at rider again and again (WARNING - GRAPHIC LANGUAGE)

The three-minute video ended with a bystander promising to walk the woman to the emergency room. The video, “Hostile Uber driver refuses to take me to ER!,” had been viewed over half a million times by Wednesday afternoon.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/angry-uber-driver-yells-car-article-1.2710007

Bruecker said all her car windows and doors were closed.

"When the door came open the bear jumped out kind of in my direction. I made a loud yell at him and it startled him and he took off the other direction like we wanted him to," said Tillman.

The bear was unharmed, but the same can't be said for Bruecker's car.

"My whole ceiling was ripped, the plastic from my sunroof cover was ripped out. My steering wheel was chewed, as was every other piece of my car," she said.

It was towed and is likely a total loss.

Items inside may not be salvageable.

"The bears don't smell good, they don't smell good," she said.

Bruecker said she had picked up some food within the past day, but it had been removed from the car. The only other thing the bear could have been after was a crushed can of lemonade.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bear-breaks-into-car-in-colorado-spends-night-inside/