Editor’s Note: Jonathan Cristol is a fellow at the World Policy Institute and a senior fellow at the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College. You can follow him @jonathancristol. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Jonathan Cristol: North Korea may now be able to launch ICBMs capable of hitting US cities But the greater danger in this development is President Trump's reaction, writes Cristol Last Friday, North Korea conducted a successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears capable of reaching American cities, including Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago. This new development is a cause for concern, but not panic or rash aggressive action. The greater danger faced by both the US and the region is the reaction of President Donald Trump to this development. Related article 'Time for talk is over': US grapples for new approach on North Korea The existence of a nuclear power with the capability of striking the United States is an inherent threat, but it is one that the US has lived with for decades. In 1986, there were over 40,000 Soviet nuclear warheads pointed at the US. Today, there are over 1,700 Russian warheads capable of killing tens of millions of Americans in under 20 minutes. And yet, somehow, most Americans are able to sleep at night – and are more afraid of Iran than Russia. The US military has acted appropriately and prudently since this recent test. It has conducted another successful test of THAAD, and held bomber runs over the Korean Peninsula with the South Koreans. Trump’s personal response has been to tweet – angrily: “China could easily solve this problem.” This, despite the President previously tweeting that, “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried.” Apparently, the buck stops in Beijing, which, incidentally has its own nuclear armed missiles that are capable of destroying American cities. Trump seems to think that China can stop North Korea and that it should do so simply because he wants it to. But China and the US have divergent regional interests. China needs to make sure that North Korea does not provoke a major increase in the US presence in the region. But it also fears a collapse of the Kim government, which would result in a regional refugee crisis and potentially bring US forces up to the Chinese border. China certainly could do more, but the US (and each of us) should know from experience that getting friends – let alone frenemies – to do what you want them to do is hard. Much of the hyperbolic reaction to the North Korean missile tests is rooted in lack of understanding of how missile tests progress. States do not continually test weapons systems and then, as soon as they are successful, use them against enemy targets. Pyongyang’s missile testing program will no more end with a nuclear strike on Washington than did its nuclear program end with a bomb dropped on Seoul. The only time in history that that has happened is the bombing of Hiroshima, which came in the context of an all-out war between the US and Japan. Kim Jong Un is a rational actor who wants to survive. The ability to strike the continental US ensures that survival; actually striking the United States ensures his destruction. Related article Trump rips China after North Korea missile test It is Trump’s response to these incremental developments that presents the real risk. He could determine that US involvement in the region is not worth the risk to the US mainland and withdraw the US from our regional defense treaties and US forces from the region. Indeed, this may be the real goal of Kim Jong Un and South Korea may already be nervous about this possibility. Seoul recently requested that the US allow it to double the explosive yield of its own missiles, and McClatchy reported that South Korea may seek to develop its own nuclear deterrent, though President Moon Jae-in currently opposes a nuclear program. Another possibility is that Trump decides to mount a preventive strike against North Korea. There was a time when a preventive strike on North Korea was an option worthy of serious debate, but that time passed years ago. An attack on North Korea now would both present an unacceptable risk to South Korea and Japan, and would involve the US in a war that would make Iraq and Afghanistan look like minor fender benders. The situation on the Korean Peninsula is complicated, and the stakes are high. It can’t be solved by the shared consumption of a piece of chocolate cake, no matter how beautiful it might be.


Héctor Pesquera, the island's public safety secretary, will lead the death toll review Mounting evidence suggests Puerto Rico has vastly undercounted storm-related deaths A newly-ordered government review of the deaths in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria is already coming under fire because the man leading it has staunchly defended an official tally widely believed to be low. An executive order signed by Gov. Ricardo Rosselló on Thursday directed the island’s public safety secretary, Héctor M. Pesquera, to head the 90-day review of the death toll since the September storm. The secretary, who has overseen the official count, has defended it based on the information received to date – despite mounting evidence that Puerto Rico has vastly undercounted storm-related deaths. The government maintains 64 people died as a result of the hurricane, which slammed into the Caribbean island, tearing roofs from homes and cutting power and water service for millions of people. “As part of the recovery process, it is important to guarantee transparency in the damages caused to the lives and safety of our citizens,” Rosselló said in a statement. The review comes after investigations by CNN and other news outlets as well as analysis by academics have called into question the official death toll. Alexis Santos, a Pennsylvania State University demographer who conducted a statistical assessment of reported deaths on the island, said Pesquera’s involvement “could put into question the transparency of the process.” “The executive order gives Pesquera the authority to establish the process and he has … been resistant to accepting counts and has been confrontational with the press and academics when discussing this topic,” Santos said via email Friday. Pesquera’s press officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In October, the public safety secretary told CNN that the suggestion of political meddling in the death toll was “horses**t.” “You think I care what the government of the United States thinks about the body count? I don’t care,” Pesquera said. “I could care less what’s less embarrassing.” In addition, Santos said Rosselló’s executive order does not “give people a retroactive right for purposes of insurance or any rights they may have if the death is determined to be associated with Hurricane Maria.” This will prevent family members from applying for the federal government reimbursement for funeral expenses. The analysis by Santos and Jeffrey Howard, a demographer and epidemiologist at the US Department of Defense, found an estimated 518 more people died in Puerto Rico in September 2017, the month of Hurricane Maria, than died during previous Septembers on the island. The estimate was not an accounting of individual hurricane deaths, Howard said, but instead a statistical look at how many people died the month of the hurricane versus the number that normally would be expected to die in that month. It’s unclear when the extra deaths occurred that month. Hurricane Maria hit on September 20. Still, the demographers’ estimate seemed to be substantiated by the CNN survey of 112 funeral homes in Puerto Rico. As part of that investigation, funeral home directors said they saw 499 deaths in the month after the hurricane – September 20 to October 19 – that they claim are related to the storm and its aftermath. John Mutter, a professor at Columbia University who researched deaths following Hurricane Katrina, told CNN Friday that Pesquera’s involvement in the review posed a conflict. “At best, he should be an ex-officio member, there to provide information,” Mutter said. “Instead, he will defend what he did. No one will believe the outcome, no matter what it is.” Rosselló’s statement said Pesquera will work “in coordination with the Demographic Registry and the Bureau of Forensic Sciences” in reviewing the deaths. “Pesquera’s involvement certainly reduces the trust of the people in this revision,” Santos said. “In the event the revision provides contradictory evidence, he will be in the difficult position of accepting he has been wrong for the past three months.” CNN’s John D. Sutter contributed to this report.

Puerto Rico government death toll review led by Héctor Pesquera


An American man suffered minor injuries in Dresden after being punched for making a Nazi salute while drunk in a bar, German police said Sunday. The 41-year-old man “was very drunk” early Saturday morning when he made the “Hitler greeting” at a bar in the Neustadt district of Dresden, deputy police chief Lutz Milker said. “He didn’t say anything – just the salute. So far we have no explanation why.” The Nazi salute, Hitlergruß in German, is performed with the right arm straight and pointed forward slightly at an angle upward with palm down. It was commonly used during the Third Reich as a greeting and to show loyalty to the Nazi regime. After the tourist stepped outside the bar, “someone hit him, and he had minor injuries to the head,” Milker said. Paramedics bandaged him on the scene and he was not hospitalized. Police would not identify the man, in accordance with German law, but said he was cited for making the salute, which is illegal in Germany. The state prosecutor will examine the case and determine if he should be formally charged, Milker said. German law forbids the use of of this salute, along with uniforms and flags, unless it is being used for arts or science, research or teaching. Last week, two Chinese tourists were arrested in Berlin for performing the banned salute in front of the city’s parliament building. The two were charged and fined €500 each.


Kerobokan prison is where the "Bali Nine" served their sentences Indonesia had another mass breakout from a prison on Sumatra in May A manhunt is on for four foreign inmates who staged a brazen escape from an Indonesian prison early Monday morning. The men dug a 15-meter-long (50 foot) tunnel under the wall of Kerobokan prison on the Indonesian island of Bali, according to CNN Indonesia. One of the men, Australian Shaun Davidson, 33, had less than three months left on his sentence after he was jailed last year for violating immigration law. The three others – Dimitar Nikolov, 43, from Bulgaria; Sayed Mohammed Said, 31, from India; and Tee Kok King, 50, from Malaysia – were facing between five and 12 more years in prison. Police said immigration and airport authorities had been alerted and a manhunt was underway. A spokesman for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said officials were aware of the alleged escape but would not comment further. The notorious Kerobokan Prison has been home to many high-profile foreign criminals, including the so-called “Bali Nine” – eight men and a woman from Australia who were convicted in 2006 of smuggling heroin. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the alleged ringleaders, were executed by firing squad in April 2015 despite pleas for mercy from their families, who said the two men had been “fully rehabilitated” after almost a decade in prison. The incident sparked a diplomatic fallout between Jakarta and Canberra, with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott denouncing the executions as “cruel and unnecessary” and recalling the country’s ambassador. Kerobokan was also home to Australian Schapelle Corby, who returned home in May after almost nine years in the Bali prison on a controversial drug conviction. Corby was sentenced in 2005 for smuggling nine pounds of marijuana. She always maintained her innocence, insisting the drugs were planted in her bag, possibly by airport workers involved in trafficking. Monday’s prison break comes just over a month after more than 400 inmates escaped a crowded jail in Sumatra. Hundreds of prisoners broke through a gate, overwhelming guards as others tried to set fire to buildings inside the prison. Police were able to catch around 200 prisoners, but dozens more were able to evade capture. Indonesian authorities blamed the mass escape on overcrowding issues and corruption among prison guards. In 2013, more than 200 inmates broke free from a maximum-security facility in Medan, the capital of the province of North Sumatra. Five people were killed in a riot that began after the water supply was cut off because of a power outage, officials said.


Mt. Paektu's 946 AD eruption was one of the most powerful on record One expert worries a North Korean nuclear test could spur volcanic activity When North Korea tests a nuclear weapon, the blast sends a jolt of energy through the Earth – one that could potentially trigger a volcanic eruption on its border with China. Experts say a sixth nuclear test from the reclusive state is on the horizon, something that’s kept the world on edge with tensions on the Korean Peninsula rising. If North Korea were to test something big enough, Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, worries the blast could set off an eruption at Mount Paektu, which the Chinese call Changbaishan, on the China-North Korea border. “That could be an absolutely huge eruption, kill thousands – if not tens of thousands – of Chinese and North Koreans. We don’t know if a bigger nuclear explosion will set it off, but it is certainly possible,” Bennett told CNN.  “The Chinese for years have been worried that he’s (Kim Jong Un) going to cause a volcano to erupt.” About 1.6 million people live within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the volcano, according to the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program, and it’s only about 115 to 130 kilometers (70 to 80 miles) away as the crow flies from Punggye-ri, North Korea’s nuclear test site. The mountain holds an important place in ancient Korean history, believed to be the birthplace of Dangun, the founder of the first Korean kingdom. But not much is known about the volcano from a scientific perspective. Access has been difficult due to North Korea’s isolation from the rest of the world, but seismic activity from 2002 to 2005 (most likely caused by magma rising in the system) prompted efforts to study the volcano. “We know relatively little about the magma plumbing system under Paektu,” said Dr. Amy Donovan, a lecturer in Geography and Environmental Hazards at King’s College London. “We also know very little about the size, condition or depth of the magma chambers at Mt. Paektu, which means that we can’t model it.” Donovan told CNN in an email that it’s unlikely a nuclear test at the same power as North Korea’s most recent one, believed to be 10 kilotons, would cause an eruption. Bennett says it would have to be more like 50 to 100 kilotons to potentially do serious damage. Donovan is part of a team of international scientists, including North Koreans, that have been studying Paektu since the seismic swarm in the 2000s. Another member of the team, Dr. Kayla Iacovino, a volcanologist at Arizona State University, says a nuclear bomb setting off a volcano is plausible in a general sense, but the science is still in its early stages. “Volcanology is a really young science. And this volcano is really special because it’s more difficult to access and study,” Iacovino said. “Honestly, we just don’t know much about why volcanoes erupt to say whether it’s plausible.” Paektu is active but not extremely so, according to Iacovino. The volcano last erupted in 1903, according to the Global Volcanism Program, but its 946 AD eruption – referred to as the “Millennium eruption” – is believed to be one of the largest ever on historical record. Mt. Paektu boasts rolling hills with short grass, a cerulean lake and an impressive crater. “It’s just a completely magnificent site,” Iacovino said. “You’re walking in this landscape that was created by this huge eruption.” The mountain’s mythology and beauty have been co-opted by the Kim family to promote their cults of personality. Kim Il Sung purportedly used the mountain as a hideout when fighting the Japanese occupation. State media often refers to the eldest Kim in reference to the mountain, using aggrandizing titles like the “legendary hero of Paektu” or “the great brilliant commander of Paektu.” North Korea claims Kim Jong Il, who oversaw the country’s first nuclear test, was born there, but many historians and scholars believe the story was fabricated for propaganda purposes. RELATED: North Korea timeline: From Trump’s inauguration to now The nuclear program’s progress has increased rapidly under current leader Kim Jong Un. To confront the threat, US President Donald Trump’s administration says it will abandon the Obama-era tactic of strategic patience and has declared “all options are on the table.” Trump has also deployed warships and top surrogates – including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis – to the region in a show of force aimed at deterring North Korea and reassuring allies of the US commitment to the Asia-Pacific region. But some analysts worry the White House has been sending mixed messages on North Korea and has not communicated its strategy very well, fueling confusion and tension.


Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review, and a former CNN producer and correspondent. Follow her @FridaGhitis. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. Frida Ghitis: New GOP Benghazi report provides no significant new findings The 8th Benghazi congressional investigation has an anti-Hillary Clinton agenda, Ghitis writes In America, the word “Benghazi” long ago took on a symbolic meaning, but that meaning has changed over time, and today’s release of yet another “Benghazi report” will tint it even more. Benghazi, of course, is Libya’s second largest city. But by now its name is more familiar in the U.S. as the place where four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed by terrorists in an attack on the night of Sept. 11, 2012.  As we all know, Hillary Clinton was secretary of state at the time, which meant the embassies and diplomatic outposts came under her purview. Clinton was already a political lightning rod before becoming secretary of state, but the strong possibility that she would become a candidate for president supercharged the Benghazi killings as politically explosive. Almost immediately, the word “Benghazi” became shorthand for political scandal threatening Hillary Clinton. Now, with this report, the word also will seal its definition in America’s dictionary of politics as code for human tragedy, cynically – if unsuccessfully – exploited for political gain. Related video GOP discusses findings of new Benghazi report After looking at the more than 800-page document produced by the Select Committee on Benghazi – the product of two years of investigations, almost $7 million in taxpayer funds, and countless hours spent by government officials who should have been dedicating their efforts to solving the many challenges faced by the country – what one finds is essentially the same conclusion that eight other investigations reached: Something went terribly wrong that night, but there was no conspiracy, no criminal intent or shameful action on the part of Clinton or anyone else. Related article Benghazi panel caps 2-year probe: No bombshell, faults administration The report should not be making headlines for its content but for the brazenness it exemplifies.  Of course it contains some new revelations, but they are nothing earth-shattering, just more details on ground covered by every other congressional committee that probed the events. What happened at the American consulate in Benghazi – where Stevens was killed along with 34-year-old Sean Smith, an only child who worked as a communications specialist in the foreign service – and what followed at the nearby CIA annex, where CIA contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed, deserved to be investigated, studied, reviewed, and learned from. The very fact that their attackers succeeded in overrunning U.S. diplomatic installations means the system failed. When the system fails the only responsible reaction is to study the failures and correct them to prevent future tragedies. But this committee’s work was not an honest investigation. It was not an effort to get at the truth. It was a campaign that aimed to achieve political objectives. The report found that before the assault there was already intelligence available that suggested an attack might occur; that Secretary Clinton and her top aides should have known the Benghazi diplomatic mission was vulnerable and at risk. It also found that the U.S. was confused about which players in Libya were friends and which were foes, concluding that the 35 Americans who were rescued were saved by a group called “Libyan Military Intelligence,” who turned out to be former military officers from the deposed Gadhafi regime, contrary to the findings of other investigations. This is new information, but only in the details. It doesn’t really tell us something we didn’t know about the larger picture. A statement released by the committee lists more than 20 new findings from the investigation. Most of them offer more specific information about the countless failures of security that allowed a preventable tragedy to occur. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged “intelligence failures,” as did the former deputy CIA chief, Michael Morrell.  In addition, there are detailed reports of efforts to coordinate the administration’s message and one larger accusation – that the administration’s policy of “no boots on the ground,” affected the level of security in Benghazi. All of these are interesting nuances, but hardly earth-shattering revelations. For a report that was aimed at the then-secretary of state, it hits a much larger target, the Obama administration and the American intelligence and defense structures. That the U.S. did not provide adequate security to its diplomats, that its understanding of the complex divisions in Libya was flawed is hardly news. Also not new is that Hillary Clinton, the State Department, the Pentagon, the CIA,  all could have done a better job protecting the Americans in Libya. Related video Exclusive early look at part of the Benghazi report The new report is the 8th Congressional investigation into Benghazi;  the ninth probe if you count the Accountability Review Board initiated by Clinton. All the investigations have reached approximately the same conclusion: that security was inadequate, that more should have been done; that there was no ill intent, no conspiracy. Last October, when Clinton testified before the committee during a grueling 11-hour session that went on long after night fell on Washington, Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff summarized for Clinton the notion he saw as driving the Republicans. “I think the core theory is this,” he said, “that you deliberately interfered with security in Benghazi and that resulted in people dying.” The quest for a grand conspiracy is what has motivated this (and many other) investigations into Hillary Clinton. But every Benghazi investigation has ultimately rejected that theory. In November 2014, the House Intelligence Committee found no evidence of wrongdoing; none in the State Department and none in the Obama administration’s public response, which included inaccurate claims that the attacks had been part of a spontaneous burst of anger about a film. The committee said there were conflicting views within the intelligence community. Every other investigation found serious flaws in security, in intelligence, faulting intelligence officials, the State Department and other parts of the government. But they found no conspiracy, and no evidence for Republicans looking to destroy Hillary Clinton’s political future. Hopefully, the Benghazi tragedy will help the U.S. develop better security protocols for foreign service officers and embassies. And perhaps the disaster will raise Libya’s place in the next president’s agenda, helping to stabilize the country and one day build a secure American consulate there, in honor of the work Stephens and others did. Related article Conservatives blast Clinton, Obama for 'tragic failure of leadership' Will this 8th or 9th investigation mark the end of the Benghazi search for a malevolent, Hillary Clinton-led conspiracy? Don’t count on it. Donald Trump has already showed he relishes stirring up outlandish conspiracy notions. And a portion of the American electorate will never let go of its hatred for Clinton. They will continue gnawing on this bone forever, even after the November election. For others – perhaps even including the committee’s chairman, Congressman Trey Gowdy – the reality of the November election has changed the calculus. There was a time when going after Clinton meant a better chance for Republicans to win a hoped-for victory. But now attacking Hillary means helping Trump, and many Republicans are not sure they want him to win. A year ago, with the investigation in full force, Trump suggested that as president he would choose Gowdy for Attorney General. Gowdy has endorsed Trump, although I don’t detect a great deal of enthusiasm from the former Rubio supporter who now says he will sit out the GOP convention. It turns out that Benghazi, which now stands for the worst of America’s corrosive, divisive politics, is not going to help Republicans get the president they want. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.Read CNNOpinion’s new Flipboard magazine. Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review, and a former CNN producer and correspondent. Follow her @FridaGhitis. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers.


Israeli police said Tuesday there is “sufficient evidence” to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on criminal charges in two corruption cases. According to a police statement published late Tuesday, authorities found evidence of “accepting bribes, fraud, and breach of trust.” In a televised statement, Netanyahu said that the allegations against him would be dismissed, repeating what has become his catchphrase, “There will be nothing because there is nothing.” In a statement given moments before police issued their official findings, he said: “I think about the good of the country not for personal reasons of the press, but only for the country, and nothing will stop me from doing this, not even the attacks against me, and believe me they’re never ending. “And, therefore, today isn’t different from any other days which I’ve been through in past 20 years.” When asked whether the US had any reaction to the police statement, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, “The only thing I have to say about that is that the United States has a very strong relationship, not only with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also the Israeli government. We’re certainly aware of it, but we consider it to be an internal Israeli matter.” Netanyahu is a suspect in two separate criminal investigations, known as Case 1000 and Case 2000. In Case 1000, Netanyahu is suspected of having received gifts from businessmen overseas totaling 1 million shekels (approximately $280,000), including cigars, champagne, jewelry and more, from 2007 through 2016. The case has focused primarily on Netanyahu’s relationship with Israeli billionaire and Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan. In exchange for the gifts, police say, Netanyahu tried to advance a tax break that would have benefited Milchan, though he was blocked by the Finance Ministry. “According to suspicions, the Prime Minister worked to advance the extension of the tax waiver for returning citizens over 10 years, a benefit that has a considerable economic value for Mr. Milchan,” the police statement said. MK Yair Lapid, one of Netanyahu’s chief rivals who served as finance minister during this period and was called to testify during the investigation, called on Netanyahu to step down. “Even if the law does not require the Prime Minister to resign, someone who has such serious accusations against them, many of which he does not deny, cannot continue to serve as Prime Minister with responsibility for the security and well-being of Israel’s citizens,” Lapid said. Police say they have enough evidence to indict Milchan on charges of bribery. Related article Israeli police find 'sufficient evidence' to indict Benjamin Netanyahu Milchan fired back at police, insisting he and Netanyahu have been friends since long before the period under investigation. “The recommendation disregards indisputable basic facts including – the ties between Mr. Milchan and Mr. Netanyahu started in the early years of 2000, when Netanyahu had no government role. This connection was characterized by friendship between the two and their families. In this framework, gifts were given from time to time by Mr. Milchan to the Netanyahu family with no business interest,” said Milchan’s lawyer. In Case 2000, police say Netanyahu discussed “bartering” with Arnon “Noni” Mozes, the owner of one of Israel’s leading newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth, which is regularly critical of the Prime Minister. In exchange for more favorable coverage, Netanyahu promised to hamper the circulation of a rival newspaper, in recordings obtained by police. “In his framework, what was discussed was the assistance of Mr. Mozes to Netanyahu in establishing his stature as Prime Minister through positive coverage in Yedioth Ahronoth that, in return for the Prime Minister assisting Mr. Mozes in advancing economic interests of Yedioth Ahronoth by an initiative to block the strengthening of Israel Hayom,” the police statement said. Both Netanyahu and Mozes have said these were not serious discussions; rather, they each claim they were trying to expose the other’s lack of trustworthiness. Police say there is enough evidence to indict Mozes on charges of offering bribes. In a statement to Israeli media, the lawyer for Mozes said, “The cases against him will be closed.” Netanyahu has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, insisting that investigators will find he did nothing wrong. Police will now pass the evidence to the attorney general, who will make a decision on whether or not to indict the Prime Minister. That decision is not expected imminently. By Israeli law, he is only required to step down if he is convicted and that conviction is upheld through the appeals process to the High Court, a process that could take years. However, he could face public and political pressure to step down much earlier. His coalition partners, so far, have backed him, saying they will not take down the government over a police conclusion. Earlier this week, Education Minister and head of the right-wing Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennett, said, “I wish from the depths of my heart that the PM will come out clean and will continue leading the State of Israel. An indictment sheet seems far away, and certainly one does not go for elections over [police] recommendations.” Echoing his position, Finance Minister and head of the center-right Kulanu party Moshe Kahlon said, “Let the [police] recommendations be published. We will not avoid a decision, but I’m telling you right now, by law, the law says until the stage of the attorney general, there is no need to deal with it at all.” Both parties have enough seats in Netanyahu’s 66-seat coalition to take down the government and force new elections. In an effort to deflect blame, Netanyahu has lashed out, attacking the police, the media, the opposition and the left in rallies and on social media. He has often called the investigations against him “fake news,” echoing the language of President Donald Trump. Last week, Israeli Police Chief Roni Alsheich, in an interview with Israel’s Keshet news channel, said “powerful elements” were “sniffing” around investigators working on the Netanyahu cases. Firing back, Netanyahu said he was “shocked by the insinuations” that he had sent private detectives to tail police, arguing that it casts doubt over the impartiality of the investigations. In a strike against the police chief after the interview, Likud MK Yoav Kisch, a hardline supporter of Netanyahu from within the Prime Minister’s party, summoned Alsheich to a meeting of the Interior Committee at the Knesset for Wednesday morning. CNN’s Oren Liebermann reported from Jerusalem. James Masters wrote from London. Amir Tal in Jerusalem contributed to this report.


Aleppo residents receive a text message warning them to evacuate The city has been one of Syria's hardest hit in the civil war Residents in war-ravaged eastern Aleppo received a dire warning early Sunday: Prepare for your city to be bombed and evacuate in the next 24 hours. The warning came via text message, urging the sick and wounded to flee before a “strategically planned assault using high precision weapons occurs within 24 hours.” Rebels were also given an ultimatum to lay down their arms and renounce their leadership, or be killed. The message was likely sent by the Syrian government as the regime is likely the only party capable of sending a mass text to the entire population. While there were no reports of a bombardment by Monday afternoon, witnesses told CNN that fighter jets had been spotted in the city, as deadly skirmishes were reported all over Aleppo. Who is left in Aleppo? Russian warplanes have since September last year backed the regime with airstrikes over rebel-held positions, pounding eastern Aleppo, where schools and hospitals have been crushed. The text message warning is seen as a response to Syrian rebels launching an offensive last month to break the regime’s siege on eastern Aleppo. Russia is the most powerful sponsor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and its air power has been a key factor in helping the government solidify its control over the city. What would make you care about Aleppo? Assad has insisted that he has no option but to “to clean” Aleppo and press on with the offensive. “You have to keep cleaning this area and to push the terrorists to Turkey … to go back to where they come from, or to kill them,” he said. “It’s going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to other areas, to liberate other areas from the terrorists. This is the importance of Aleppo now.” Fresh clashes broke out Sunday, with regime shelling killing at least 11 people in the al-Salehin neighborhood, according to the Aleppo Media Center activist group. Several other neighborhoods were shelled by ground artillery and heavy machine gunfire from helicopters, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said. Rebel factions targeted army positions on the northern front line, causing casualties among Syrian troops, the SOHR said. The Syrian Army accuses rebels in eastern Aleppo – who they call terrorists – of using civilians as human shields. The UN warned last week that eastern Aleppo was on the brink of starvation ahead of a “killer” winter. Residents there told CNN that their food stocks were running out, and that markets that once sold fruit and vegetables were now empty. A kilogram of meat, they said, costs around $40, a price that most in Aleppo simply cannot pay. The last significant aid delivery was in July, and the area is extremely low on medicine and much-needed fuel to run hospital generators and ambulances. The city has seen considerable death and destruction wrought by the civil war that has raged for more than five years. About 1.5 million people still live in the regime-held parts of Aleppo, while 250,000-275,000 residents are in the devastated rebel-held east, according to the UN. In July, about 200,000 people fled the city over a two days, according to a UN official, citing the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Turkey has been carrying out airstrikes in northern Syria to back the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which is currently moving in on the ISIS-held city of al-Bab. The city lies strategically between Aleppo and the ISIS heartland of Raqqa. The Turkish Army said it hit 15 targets on Sunday, including two ISIS “headquarter” buildings, an ammunition storage and 10 defense fronts. Ankara has said once the city is liberated, it plans to move on to Manbij, stirring sectarian tensions that complicates internationally backed operations to free Syrian cities from ISIS control. Manbij was in August freed from ISIS rule by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab groups. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month said Ankara would not allow the Kurds to hold any territory west of the Iraqi city of Mosul. Manbij is just 40 kilometers south of the Turkish border. How the ‘Kurdish question’ complicates the anti-ISIS alliance Turkey considers some of the Kurdish militia groups in the alliance as terrorists, including the YPG. But the SDF is supported and armed by the US, further complicating the conflict, which has already put Washington at loggerheads with Moscow. The former Cold War enemies, both of which are carrying out airstrikes in Syria, have long feuded over which groups should be targeted. The US supports and arms groups that it considers “moderate rebels,” while Russia calls any rebel group that is opposed to the regime “terrorists.” CNN’s Schams Elwazer, Marilia Brocchetto and Isil Sariyuce contributed to this report.


Earle Hyman had a long TV and stage acting career He died in New Jersey at age 91 Earle Hyman, a longtime stage and TV actor who was best known for playing Bill Cosby’s father on “The Cosby Show,” died Friday. Hyman was 91. He died at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey, according to Jordan Strohl, a representative for The Actors Fund. Hyman enjoyed an international theater career that spanned decades. He also frequently appeared from 1984 to 1992 on the “The Cosby Show,” playing Russell Huxtable. Bill Cosby tweeted about the late actor on Sunday night: “Earle Hyman brought love, dignity and integrity to Grandpa Huxtable. Thank you, Earle, you will live forever.” Hyman was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series, for his work on the show in 1984. Related gallery People we've lost in 2017 Hyman was born in October 11, 1926, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. When he was a teenager, he fell in love with the theater especially after seeing a Henrik Ibsen play, according to IMDb. Hyman learned Norwegian and later in life, maintained a second home there, where he also enjoyed a stage career. Hyman performed in several Shakespeare plays in the titular roles of Othello and Hamlet. In 1980, he was nominated for a Tony for his performance in Edward Albee’s play “The Lady from Dubuque.” CNN’s Madison Park contributed to this report.


Editor’s Note: Sally Kohn is an activist, columnist and television commentator. Follow her on Twitter: @sallykohn. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. Sally Kohn: A twitter hashtag apparently started by handful of racist, white-supremacist trolls in reaction to Star Wars trailer release She says director J.J. Abrams may have intentionally chosen diverse cast to upend good (white)/bad (black) stereotypes in film “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” doesn’t come out until December, but it’s already stirring controversy – among anti-diversity white supremacists.  No, I’m serious.  They appear to be angry that in the newest film in the “Star Wars” series, the lead heroic characters aren’t white men. On Twitter Sunday night, after the latest trailer for “The Force Awakens” was released, what appears to be a handful of explicitly racist tweeters started the hashtag #BoycottStarWarsVII. “#BoycottStarWarsVII because it is anti-white propaganda promoting #whitegenocide,” read one tweet promoting the hashtag.  Another tweet called the film “a social justice propaganda piece that alienates it’s [sic] core audience of young white males.” And one tweet,  according to the Hollywood Reporter, charged that “SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) complain about White artists ‘misappropriating’ culture created by blacks but then celebrate a non-White Star Wars.”  Tweets also went after director J.J. Abrams for being Jewish and anti-white. Related gallery Sequel mania: A guide to the next 5 years of film It seems that the force may not be all that this new “Star Wars” awakens. In fact, while there are plenty of excellent (and insanely thorough) analyses of the combined revelations of “The Force Awakens” trailers so far – for the record, my favorite is by the brilliant Alyssa Rosenberg – it seems obvious we can analyze the film as a metaphor for the real life fight that its trailer has, paradoxically or even deliberately, enlivened with a sci-fi twist. Internet trolls take on ‘Star Wars’ movie In the trailer, there appear to be two protagonists: Finn and Rey.  Finn is played by John Boyega, a black male British actor.  Rey is played by Daisy Ridley, a white female British actress.  (Note that the racist and sexist trolls don’t seem to have a problem with the apparent British colonization of the “Star Wars” franchise – they’re not particularly xenophobic in this sense, at least when it comes to Brits as opposed to, say, Mexicans.) Rosenberg points out that the new film positions Finn and Rey as “the inheritors of Luke’s role.”  As anyone born in the last 40 years or so should know, Luke Skywalker is the hero of the original “Star Wars” trilogy – the one we all root for unless we’re psychopaths or something. Fundamentally, Luke’s nemesis is Darth Vader.  And though we learn in “Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back” that Vader is Luke’s father, he wears a black outfit and a black hood and his voice is performed by black actor James Earl Jones. The Millennium Falcon and the rebel fighter planes are white.  The Death Star?  Black.  Yes the storm troopers were white and Jedi master Mace Windu was played by Samuel L. Jackson, but generally, especially in the first three original “Star Wars,”  good was white and bad was black.  A mirror image of society’s historical racial biases. Opinion: The ugly forces of Twitter No wonder white and black kids today still favor white dolls over black dolls, just as they did 50 years ago.  Our script hasn’t changed. Enter J.J. Abrams.  In a podcast in 2013, Abrams recounted how he wanted to make the cast of a pilot he was directing more diverse.  He talked about going to the Emmys: “You look around that room and you see the whitest (explicative) room in the history of time. It’s just unbelievably white. And I just thought, we’re casting this show and we have an opportunity to do anything we want, why not cast the show with actors of color? Like, not for sure – and if we can’t find the actors who are great, we shouldn’t – but why don’t we make that effort?” That show (it was unrelated to Star Wars) didn’t work – Abrams doesn’t blame the cast, but himself.  But clearly he was determined to try again and one can imagine the same sort of thinking in casting “The Force Awakens.”  The script is flipped.  Rey and Finn are the sympathetic heroes and now the villain (still wearing black just so we’re clear and because change is slow anyway) is played by a white male actor, Adam Driver. Related article Star Wars: Revenge of the Myth In the film-as-metaphor version, Abrams is aligned with the forces of good.  The sexist and racist trolls that sprang up this week?  They’re not aligned just with white men in defense of white male privilege or even just white maleness.  After all, the trailers show plenty of white dudes also fighting alongside Rey and Finn – including the return of Han Solo, who is as “white dude” as they come.  No, the sexist and racist trolls are fighting for the dark side. So then in this context, what’s “the force” – you know, the mythical energy that fuels Jedis and represents the essence of goodness in the “Star Wars” world?  The force is inclusion and equality and freedom for all – everything that humanity is when it’s at its best, in real life and in “Star Wars.”  In creating a “Star Wars” that reflects our best values, J.J. Abrams has used the force and stood on the side of good with Luke, Finn and Rey and invited us all to fight for a more inclusive future. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.Read CNNOpinion’s Flipboard magazine.


Polls have closed in the Spanish region of Catalonia, in an election seen as a litmus test of the separatist movement’s legitimacy after it attempted to break away from Spain. Madrid called the snap regional election with the hope of having a new government to deal with after Catalonia’s Parliament in Barcelona declared unilateral independence in October. Spain was plunged into its worst political crisis in decades when the Catalan government held an illegal referendum on October 1 on independence, triggering a monthslong standoff with Madrid. Madrid responded to the Catalan administration provocations by firing the government, dissolving the region’s Parliament and imposing direct rule. Thursday’s vote is being treated as a legal version of the referendum, and polls before the vote suggested it’s on a knife-edge, with support for parties that are for and against independence split right down the middle. Polls closed at 8 p.m.  and the Catalan government reports an estimated turnout of above 80%, which would mark record participation if confirmed. Results are expected late Thursday night. Related article 'Like the Civil War without the bombs': Catalonia's messy vote The situation has made for an unusual campaign. Oriol Junqueras – the president and head candidate of the main pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia – has run his campaign from prison in Madrid. He has been charged with sedition and rebellion, and is facing a 30-year jail term over his role in the illegal referendum. Carles Puigdemont, who led Catalonia until Madrid fired him, faces the same charges but fled to Brussels to campaign from afar. He leads the Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) faction and claims he is still the region’s legitimate leader. The two leaders, who ran the previous government together, have traded barbs in recent days, accusing one another of hiding from the independence fight, in a sign that movement is truly fractured. The independence movement has sought to characterize the government in Madrid as a continuation of the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, which oppressed the Catalan people over four decades of rule. It points to force used by Spanish police during the October 1 referendum, in which officers sent by Madrid to shut down the vote were seen pulling elderly people from polling stations, and firing rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters. Madrid, on the other hand, has tried to portray independence leaders as rogue elements who have hijacked Catalan politics to promote a cause that does not have popular support. Adding fuel to the fire, Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister María Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, given temporary command of Catalonia, declared at the weekend that the country’s ruling Popular Party had “decapitated” the independence movement, Spanish media reports, stoking outrage in the region. Related article The millennials voting for Catalan independence According to Antoni Puigverd, a Catalan analyst with La Vanguardia, 1.5 million eligible voters were still undecided days before the election. This volatility has to do largely with the fracture in the independence movement and the unusual circumstances of the vote, as Madrid retains control over the region and key independence figures are in prison or abroad, Puigverd said. The outcome is expected to be messy. Catalonia’s Parliament is typically split between seven parties and alliances, and no single one is expected to win a majority of the 135 seats. ‘Without papers, you are nothing’: Catalonia’s newcomers wooed by promises of citizenship This means the votes will almost certainly be followed by weeks of political wrangling, and the party that wins the most seats will not necessarily lead the government – it is the biggest coalition that will ascend. Some polls before the vote showed a meteoric rise in the center-right Ciutadans (Citizens) party, which is anti-independence, predicting it could win the highest number of seats, in a sign that there is appetite to end  what the Catalans simply call “the process.” The party is led by 36-year-old Inés Arrimadas, a relatively fresh face in Catalan politics. The two main pro-independence parties appear to be at loggerheads, but they have insisted to CNN that, should they together win a majority of seats, they will form a coalition and show a unified front. Some pre-vote polls show that they could achieve a narrow majority, while others show them falling just short. If they do fall short, the smaller Catalunya en Comú (Catalonia in Common) could become kingmaker in a coalition. The party has said it will not team up with Ciutadans, but is also tepid on independence. In the absence of a majority, who will become president will depend entirely on talks. Puigdemont was propelled into Catalonia’s presidency in a last-minute deal after the previous vote in 2015. It’s unlikely. The pro-independence parties together have a greater chance of forming a government, and if they do, the Madrid-Barcelona feud could be back to square one. If they lose, Madrid is unlikely to show any mercy to the independence leaders in prison, according to Puigverd, the Catalan analyst. “The situation will calm down and the independence movement will accept its defeat. They will expect clemency for their prisoners – clemency that they won’t get. The state will take its revenge, at least for a few years,” he told CNN. The push for independence is steeped in hundreds of years of history, but it was given new life in 2010, as the effects of the global financial crisis began to bite but also as Madrid began rolling back on the region’s powers. Spain’s Popular Party – which now governs the country – challenged Catalonia’s status as a country within Spain in the Constitutional Court in 2010 and won, forcing the region to accept a new status one notch down. The Spanish Parliament has overturned several laws passed by Catalan MPs – including one to protect poor people from soaring energy costs and another banning bullfighting. Each side accused the other of overstepping its authority.


A midair collision of U.S. planes in 1966 dropped nuclear bombs on rural Spain There was no nuclear detonation, but it contaminated areas around Palomares The U.S. and Spain have agreed to work on a new phase in the cleanup Nearly a half-century after a midair plane collision sent U.S. nuclear bombs tumbling down onto the Spanish countryside, the two governments are still trying to clean up the radioactive mess the accident left behind. Two American military aircraft, a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 refueling plane, crashed into each other above the rural village of Palomares in southeastern Spain on January 17, 1966. The explosion killed seven of the planes’ crew members and released the bomber’s payload of four nuclear weapons. Three of the bombs hit the ground, the other fell into the Mediterranean. None of them set off a nuclear detonation, but two of them spewed plutonium over the surrounding area. Nobody on the ground was killed as the bombs and plane wreckage rained down around Palomares, but parts of the village and the nearby countryside were contaminated by the radioactive materials. The disaster has been ranked as one of the worst nuclear disasters of the Cold War that highlighted the dangers of the arms race between Washington and Moscow. And it has proved to have a long legacy. During a visit to Madrid on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry signed a new document pledging further assistance in the decades-long cleanup, including the likely disposal of contaminated soil in America. After the accident, U.S. and Spanish security forces swarmed Palomares to secure the affected zone and ship out contaminated soil. They worked to make the area safe again for residents and agreed to keep monitoring contamination levels. The disaster gradually slipped into the history books – though not for Palomares residents – until around the turn of the century, when the Spanish center for energy research, Ciemat, started raising concerns about radioactive elements in the soil in some areas that it feared may be affected by real estate development. The Spanish government took control of the contaminated areas to prevent them being disturbed. But concerns were heightened in 2006, when Ciemat reported it had found snails with elevated levels of radiation around Palomares. To tackle the ongoing problems at the site, Kerry announced Monday that he had signed a memorandum setting out “a new path to achieve additional remediation.” “We have to build on today’s signing to take further action to resolve, once and for all, this very important issue,” he said, speaking alongside Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo. The statement of intent signed by the two officials acknowledged Spain’s desire “to guarantee the wellbeing of its inhabitants and the economic development potential of the Palomares area.” The statement calls for the negotiation of a binding agreement under which contaminated soil from the site will be disposed of “at an appropriate site in the United States.” In a planning summary issued earlier this year under the National Environmental Policy Act, the U.S. Department of Energy said it was considering the possibility of transporting low-level radioactive waste to the National Security Site in Nevada for disposal.


Razan al-Najjar is known to the world as the 21-year-old Palestinian medical nurse shot dead by an Israeli sniper during protests on Friday. To her parents she was a beloved daughter who died just a few hundred meters from her home in Khan Younis, close to the fence that separates Gaza from Israel. On Saturday, thousands took to the streets of the Gazan city for the young medic’s funeral. The streets and lampposts surrounding Razan’s home are now adorned with her smiling image. Her father, Ashraf al-Najjar, takes CNN up three flights of stairs and into their apartment. The rest of the family, their small home now filled with mourners, sit in disbelief. Razan’s mother, Sabreen, dressed entirely in black, clutches her daughter’s blood-soaked medical vest. She tells us Razan had been volunteering since the beginning of the protests, working without pay. “I was afraid for her, but Razan told us she wasn’t afraid, she felt obliged to help and was clearly wearing a medical vest,” she says. Sabreen says her daughter “may have been small, but she was strong, and her only weapon was her medical vest.” Ashraf sits alongside his wife in a quiet state of denial, every so often nodding in agreement. It’s a vest Razan thought would protect her. “I’m protected by my vest,” she would tell her mother and father before heading out to help, “God is with me, I am not afraid.” Razan al-Najjar’s death comes after weeks of Palestinian protests, known as the Great March of Return, during which more than 100 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli fire. She is the second medical worker to die. More than 200 others have been injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military says it is investigating her death, adding, “the IDF constantly works to draw operational lessons and reduce the number of casualties in the area of the Gaza Strip security fence.” “I want justice for Razan,” Sabreen says as she pulls a wad of medical gauze from the pocket of her daughter’s vest. “Here is her weapon! I want the world to know this is the weapon of Razan al-Najjar — and is this the ID of a terrorist?” she asks rhetorically, holding up her daughter’s medical ID that she was wearing at the time of her death. In Gaza City’s blazing midday sun a group of medical volunteers gathered outside a United Nations office Sunday in protest of what they say is the targeting of medics by the Israeli military. The IDF denies it targets medical workers. At the gathering CNN spoke to Rami Abu Jazzar, who was volunteering alongside Razan al-Najjar on Friday.  He says he too was shot that day, in the left knee, and is here on crutches. He says it’s important the world knows what happened. Jazzar says Friday was like any other day as he, Razan and the group of medical volunteers from the Palestinian Medical Relief Society gathered to tend to wounded protesters. He says Razan arrived early that day. “When she arrived on Friday she told her friends, ‘I love working here with everyone.’ She smiled all day, it was a beautiful day working with her.” Cellphone video filmed by the volunteers and shared with CNN shows the medics, including Razan, slowly moving forward, their medical ID badges displayed and their hands in the air. They tell us this video was filmed 10 minutes before Razan was shot. “People were suffering from the [tear] gas,” Jazzar explains. “A man was right near the fence and was calling out, ‘Come help me, help me’. He was close to the fence. Razan went to help him.” That’s when she was shot, he says. Another volunteer working that day tells us she saw the sniper and warned the others to be careful. “Some people on social media say Razan was shot by a woman sniper. She was not. I saw the sniper – it was a man,” Rasha Qudeih tells us. Razan’s friends and fellow medical volunteers say they’ll remember her for her bravery, and will more than ever continue their work. Correction: A previous version of this story misattributed a quote about details regarding Razan al-Najjar's death. It was Rami Abu Jazzar who described the circumstances under which she was killed.


At the Corner Project in New York, drug users are monitored for safety It's a controversial strategy to reduce drug overdose deaths Of all the provocative strategies to reduce harm from opioid addiction, the one that I am about to describe is near the top. Over the past several months, hardly anyone I spoke to about the abuse of opioids in the United States, including pain pills and heroin, had a neutral point of view about what is happening in a small but important corner of the larger epidemic. The place is where a former security guard named Hector Mata became an expert at reversing overdoses and probably saved 25 lives in the process. It is not a hospital or a clinic. Mata’s infirmary is the Corner Project, a syringe exchange program that began operating in the New York neighborhood of Washington Heights, which houses a bathroom where drug users can more safely inject heroin. On first glance, there is not much that is special about this bathroom except that there is someone checking in on an intercom every three minutes to make sure the user is still conscious. If a user doesn’t respond on the check-in, Mata, or someone similarly trained, will press a button to unlock the door and rush in, armed with a syringe full of naloxone, also known by the brand name  Narcan, and hopefully reverse the effects of the opioid drugs. After seven years and at least 25 overdoses, he says he has never failed. While to some people, this sounds like a “consumption room,” or a safe injection site, the staff here say it is simply a bathroom. After all, injection sites aren’t legal under US law. Related article Opioid overdoses shorten US life expectancy by 2½ months I sat down with the Corner Project’s director, Liz Evans, and asked her just how a place like this legally exists. She told me that public bathrooms are the frontline of the opioid epidemic. “People are dying in those bathrooms, and so there’s an acknowledgment that as a syringe exchange provider, we have a moral obligation to make sure that people don’t die in our building.” And so, the Corner Project has implemented a safety net to make sure that people don’t die from overdoses in the bathroom in their building.  Everything in this story is a murky gray. Perhaps the story of the Corner Project could have been predicted.  A heroin addict goes to a needle exchange, obtains clean needles and immediately heads to the bathroom to inject drugs. After all, according to recent studies in New York City, nearly two-thirds of drug users visit places like abandoned buildings, cars, and public bathrooms to inject drugs. The Corner Project started out as a street based community outreach group in 2005. In 2009, when the Corner Project moved to its current brick and mortar location, the bathroom was just a matter of convenience for clients. Within a short time, however, there was an overdose in the bathroom, followed by another and so on. Related article US heroin deaths jump 533% since 2002, report says Without a system in place, the workers at Corner Project would hear a characteristic thud from someone passing out in the bathroom, make a mad scramble for the keys and then work to revive the person. Though they were mostly successful, it was always frightening. The Corner Project could have simply closed the bathroom or searched people before they used the facility, but the workers chose to do neither. Instead, they kept it open and put in safety measures, like an intercom system, timers, and naloxone to help prevent overdoses. They stayed open knowing that if they closed their doors addicts would simply find another public restroom to use their drugs, far from the people who might be able to save them. And with that, the Corner Project pushed the limits of harm reduction in the United States. Since last year, the New York State Department of Health has followed the Corner Project’s lead and instituted regulations and recommended procedures on how to best prevent overdoses in the places where users are likely to use: syringe exchange bathrooms. In the great debate of criminalization versus rehabilitation, many commonly held assumptions have been torn to shreds. For example, some believed the legalization of drugs like marijuana would lead to increased use. Yet in Colorado, which legalized recreational pot, teen marijuana use has dropped. When it comes to opioids, the number of people who overdose and die from legal prescription painkillers is about equal to the number of people who die from illicit drugs like heroin. Related article This is fentanyl: A visual guide Another commonly held belief is that a safe injection site would implicitly condone the use of drugs and lead to increased use. And yet we now know that theory starts to fray when we look at what has happened at the Corner Project and at a place called InSite in Vancouver, Canada, which Liz Evans also  helped found. InSite started as a pilot project in 2003 and was the first legal supervised drug injection site in North America. To help manage the opioid crisis in Canada, Health Canada has approved more sites in recent months. Though the centers don’t provide any illicit drugs, the medical staff are there to provide first aid, including naloxone for overdoses, addiction counseling and mental health assistance. InSite has seen more than 3 million people since it opened, treated over 6,000 overdoses and not had a single person die. Furthermore, a 2011 Lancet study revealed that in the neighborhoods surrounding InSite, in the two years after it opened, there was a 35% reduction in overdose deaths from the two and a half years before it opened, compared with a 9% drop in the rest of Vancouver. Although it is unclear the impact of InSite on decreasing the total number of drugs users, it has led to increased admissions for addiction treatment and detoxification. And that also means cleaner communities. Streets and public restrooms aren’t littered with needles and other drug paraphernalia. In fact, a recent survey of drug users from an undisclosed safe injection site in the United States found that if they hadn’t used the site’s facilities, over 90% of the users would be using in public bathrooms or out on the street. Related article Canada's safe injection center brings drug addicts 'out of the alleys' These statistics are now the subject of dozens of studies in medical journals and were also recited to me as Mata showed me around the Corner Project’s bathroom. But he emphasized again, “It’s not a safe injection site,” he told me. He points out that unlike InSite, the Corner Project doesn’t have actual medical professionals monitoring the bathroom. In fact, if a doctor or nurse were to actually supervise its bathrooms, he or she could lose their license. He also doesn’t care for the term “consumption room,” which has been around in Western Europe since the 1990s. Instead, Mata insists I just call it a bathroom. Because unlike Canada or some countries in Europe, what I witnessed isn’t actually legal in the United States. At the front desk, a staff member monitored the clock and the intercom, checking to see whether any help was necessary. Considering the number of lives nearly lost in its bathroom, the mood in the Corner Project was calm and controlled. The soft music, brightly colored walls and chalkboards, and chestnut-colored tables with staff members casually engaged in small talk gave it the feel of a neighborhood coffee shop, more than a place where overdoses are prevented. Mata said my tour needed to be quick because the bathroom is in use almost all the time, and there is a waiting list that often lasts more than an hour. One of the men in line was Taylor Prince, 35. Mata gave him a hug and then told me, “Taylor is a frequent flier.” I found out later that Mata saved Prince’s life on three occasions. See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. We find ourselves in the middle of an opioid epidemic that is the worst drug crisis in American history. It is a self-inflicted wound and one that is predominantly made in America, as we consume more than 80% of the world’s supply of opioid pain pills, even though we are less than 5% of the world’s population. Many of those prescriptions have led to heroin use; three out of four new heroin users started with prescription narcotics. And there is no single strategy, as provocative or revolutionary as it may be, that is going to be the answer to turning those numbers completely around. Not even a controversial bathroom in the Washington Heights Corner Project could possibly do that, but in the meantime, Mata and others will work on saving as many lives as possible. Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that there are only two safe injection sites in North America.


In the eyes of the State Department, ISIS is beating al Qaeda at being the world’s leading terrorist group. The “unprecedented” spread and brutality of ISIS, its strength in recruiting foreign fighters, messaging and its ability inspire lone wolf attacks have helped the group supplant al Qaeda as the leading global terrorist group, said the State Department’s annual terrorism report. The report says both are adapting their tactics in ways which are more brutal and harder to trace. “The prominence of the threat one posed by core al Qaeda diminished in 2014,” the report found. In addition to significant losses of its core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it noted that “AQ leadership also appeared to lose momentum as the self-styled leader of a global movement in the face of ISIL’s rapid expansion and proclamation of a Caliphate.” The number of terrorist attacks in 2014 increased 35% over the previous year, but were more heavily concentrated in a handful of countries. More than 60% of all attacks took place in five countries — Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria — according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland, which compiles statistics on worldwide terrorism. By a wide margin, the highest number of attacks, fatalities and injuries took place in Iraq, coinciding with the expansion of ISIS. RELATED: Why ISIS is winning, and how its foes can reverse that success An 81 percent increase in fatalities last year was, in part, a result of exceptionally lethal attacks. Twenty-four Americans died last year in terrorist attacks, mostly in Afghanistan, Somalia and Jerusalem. The report cited increasingly aggressive tactics and brutality by terrorist in their attacks, beheading, crucifixions and mass causalities. Kidnapping and hostage-taking has also increased over the past year. The report singled out the Nigeria-based Boko Haram as sharing ISIS’ “penchant for the use of brutal tactics,” such as stonings and enslaving children. Although ISIS was responsible for the greatest amount of attacks last year, it was a close second to Boko Haram in number of fatalities. READ: Second American arrested in ISIS-linked NYC bomb plot The U.S. also recognized ISIS’ prowess in using social media to spread its message and recruit followers, noting the group “has been adroit at using the most popular social and new media platforms (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) to disseminate its messages broadly.” ISIS’ initial publication of online propaganda is followed by near instantaneous reposting, follow-up links and translations into additional languages, the report found, adding that the groups’ members answered real-time questions from would be members about how to join the group. Related gallery Who are the women of ISIS? The report called the Syrian civil war a “significant factor” for many of last year’s terrorist attacks worldwide. Despite the standing up of a worldwide anti-ISIS coalition and a UN Security Council resolution making the travel of foreign fighters to and from conflict zones illegal, more than 16,000 foreign terrorist fighters traveled to Syria in 2014, according to the report — most of them to join ISIS. “The rate of foreign terrorist fighter travel to Syria … exceeded the rate of foreign fighters who traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any point in the last 20 years,” the report said. Weak and failed governments were blamed for providing an “enabling environment” for the emergence of extremist radicalism and violence — not only in Syria and Iraq, but also in Yemen and Libya, where jihadi groups have flourished. The U.S. is “deeply concerned” about the growth of ISIS beyond Syria and Iraq and the birth of self-proclaimed affiliates, the report found, particularly in Libya, Egypt and Nigeria. It acknowledged questions remain about the meaning of such affiliates -  whether they represent a command relationship or the groups simply share “merely opportunistic relationships” with ISIS. Although al-Qaida’s leadership has been weakened, the report said the group “continued to serve as a focal point of inspiration” for its worldwide network of affiliates, such as AQAP in Yemen, al-Nusra Front in Syria and al-Shabaab in Somalia. Even as it negotiates with the U.S. and other world powers on a nuclear deal, the report found Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism worldwide last year remained “undiminished.” The report pointed to Tehran’s support for Palestinian terror groups, its proxy Hezbollah and several groups in Iraq and accused Tehran of “prolonging the civil war in Syria, and worsening the human rights and refugee crisis there,” suggesting neither improved relations with the west as a result of nuclear negotiations, nor Iran’s reformist President Hassan Rouhani has moderated Iran’s foreign policy agenda in the region. The report said Iran used its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force “to implement foreign policy goals, provide cover for intelligence operations, and create instability in the Middle East.” It called the Qods force Iran’s “primary mechanism “for cultivating and supporting terrorists abroad.” Tehran increased its assistance to Iraqi Shia militias, primarily to combat ISIS. But some of those groups “have exacerbated sectarian tensions in Iraq and have committed serious human rights abuses against primarily Sunni civilians,” the report said. It did note, however that despite Shia militias have declared opposition to the return of U.S. troops to Iraq to fight ISIS and have threatened attacks, “they refrained from launching strikes against U.S. personnel in 2014.” Although the report only covers 2014, US officials said there is nothing to indicate Iran’s policy has changed as the June 30 deadline for a nuclear deal approaches. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to fly next week to meet with Iranian officials and other world powers  to try and reach an agreement. The Obama administration has said a nuclear deal not alter US policy regarding Iran’s other behavior. But officials have expressed hope a nuclear pact could lead to cooperation in the Middle East, particularly against ISIS, and ultimately moderate the Iranian regime. RELATED: Al Qaeda’s second in command killed in Yemen strike; successor named The report also warned about the increase in so-called “lone wolf” attacks last year, citing attacks in Canada in October and Sydney, Australia, although it was difficult to assess whether attacks were directed or simply inspired by ISIS or al Qaeda and its affiliates. “These attacks may presage a new era in which centralized leadership of a terrorist organization matters less, group identity is more fluid and violent extremist narratives focus on a wider range of alleged grievances and enemies with which lone actors may identify and seek to carry out self-directed attacks,” the report found. The U.S. has working to “shift” it’s counterterrorism strategy to more effectively partner with countries where terrorist networks have a foothold, the report said. The US has assembled a  sixty-plus nation global coalition to stop ISIS advances on the ground, counter its messaging and stem the flow of foreign fighters and financing. The U.S. is also working with allies in North Africa and the Middle East to strengthen their counterterrorism capabilities and help them develop new laws to address  the foreign fighter issue. This year’s report marks the first that Cuba is not on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Cuba was originally placed on the terror list in 1982 when the U.S. government accused the Fidel Castro regime of sponsoring communist groups in Latin American and Africa. The White House took Cuba off the list last month, after President Obama’s historic opening to Cuba in December. RELATED: Obama acts to remove Cuba from terror list


The Afghanistan family fled to Pakistan when the Taliban came to their village About 400 people were on hand at the airport to greet them Utah Republican Gov. Gary Herbert posted a photo of a refugee family arriving at the Salt Lake City International Airport Thursday, the last to arrive in the state before President Donald Trump’s 120-day suspension of refugees entering the US went into effect. A post shared by Gary R. Herbert (@governorherbert) The Afghanistan family fled to Pakistan when the Taliban came to their village, Danielle Stamos, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Community Services of Utah, told CNN. Catholic Community Services of Utah staff planned to welcome the family, but after staff members began inviting others to join, “it exploded,” Stamos said, and about 400 people were on hand at the airport to greet them. Pamela Atkinson, an adviser to Herbert, was among those at the airport, and she snapped the photo and sent it to his office. The governor saw the photo and wanted to post it. His caption: “A great Utah moment as we welcome Utah’s newest pioneers.” “Gov. Herbert has been very consistent in noting how Utah is a welcoming place to people who are seeking refuge,” Paul Edwards, a spokesman for Herbert, told CNN, adding Herbert invited Yar Kuany Awan, a Sudanese refugee, to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at his Inauguration in January. Herbert was one of two Republican governors who did not oppose Syrian refugees entering his state in November following the Paris terrorist attack where at least one of the suspects in the attack was a Syrian refugee. Friday evening, a federal judge in Washington state temporarily halted Trump’s travel ban, but it is certain to face legal challenges.


Editor’s Note: Rob Crilly is a British journalist living in New York. He was The Telegraph’s Afghanistan and Pakistan correspondent and was previously the East Africa correspondent for The Times of London. The opinions in this article are those of the author. Are these the end times for both America and the world? An out-of-control ego intent on promoting its own interests – with no regard for the usual norms and conventions – dishes the dirt with cheap shots at opponents and boorish jokes about their personal appearance. In so doing, it diminishes the standing and the status of one of America’s great institutions, risking deadly confrontation and a spiral into war. Yes, James Comey’s Ego has a lot to answer for. Its new book, “A Higher Loyalty,” to be published on Tuesday, has already attracted huge fanfare, shattering embargoes in a tidal wave of excitement. Related article The effort to discredit Comey's book is fascinating Not for the first time, James Comey’s Ego propels itself to the center of American politics and the world stage. The book’s pages detail how the Comey Ego first became a household name during the 2016 presidential election, taking on a pivotal role even as it sowed the seeds of its own downfall. It was not enough, you’ll remember, that the FBI had pored through Hillary Clinton’s emails as it investigated her use of a private email server and concluded that there were no charges to answer: James Comey’s Ego wanted to be the one to announce it. Instead of simply dropping the matter, the result was a news conference at which James Comey’s Ego spent 10 minutes denouncing Mrs. Clinton’s email practices before getting to the fact that no further action would be taken. The news media got their headlines, as did James Comey’s Ego. Worse followed when the FBI received a new batch of emails to probe. Just 11 days before election day, James Comey’s Ego wrote to Congress announcing that the investigation was being reopened. Not everyone in the office thought it a wise move, according to excerpts from the book. One colleague – perhaps not given to the same sort of confidence and psephological foresight as the then-FBI director – according to excerpts, asked: “Should you consider that what you are about to do may help elect Donald Trump president?” “No,” came the answer of a figure so certain of a Hillary win that no opportunity for self-promotion need be missed. At this point you might be forgiven for thinking we had rather heard enough from James Comey’s Ego. Having helped elect Mr. Trump, wouldn’t the graceful thing be to step back, damage done, from the public scene? James Comey’s Ego has other ideas, leaking details of presidential conversations to the media ahead of a blockbuster appearance before Congress last year. Its once-anonymous Twitter account gave nods and winks to friends and journalists in the know – with posts linking to FBI job ads and the sort of moody pastoral scenes designed to spark a guessing game about the author’s identity. Related article Comey: 'I don't know' if Trump was with prostitutes in Moscow And now we have the book, some of it based on notes kept during its time as FBI director, detailing the president’s hand size (“it was smaller than mine but did not seem unusually so”) and tie-length (“too long”). It picks over Trump’s perhaps not unreasonable fury at unsubstantiated reports he cavorted with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel. It all makes for unedifying stuff. Not so much the high-minded work of a whistleblower with a cause as a lurid rant of an ego untethered. Is this how former directors of the FBI are supposed to behave? And it comes with dangers. At a time when this White House is under intense scrutiny, as investigators close in on former officials and their lies, at a time when Trump is weighing what might be the most consequential decision of his presidency and mulling whether to launch punishing military strikes against Syria, along comes James Comey’s Ego, nursing a grievance. If we know anything at all about the ego in the White House it is that personal slights provoke immediate rage and unilateral distraction of the headline-generating kind. After first helping Mr. Trump win power, James Comey’s Ego has thrown itself back into the political maelstrom and into the Syria calculus. At least we perhaps now understand the origins of the book’s title, A Higher Purpose. For did you know that when James Comey’s Ego draws itself up to its full height, it stands a full six feet eight inches tall?


Woman found dead in Indian state of Goa Police investigating whether she was sexually assaulted Indian police have opened a murder investigation after a British-Irish tourist was found dead in the southern coastal state of Goa. The 28-year-old woman’s naked body was found in fields near Deobagh Beach in Canacona, a district popular with tourists, according to police inspector Fiolmeno Costa. The body was discovered in a pool of blood with severe head injuries, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police Sammy Tavares. The case is being investigated as a murder, Tavares added. One person has been arrested in connection with her death and police are investigating whether she was sexually assaulted, authorities said. The suspect had marks on his face “which could have been made by the victim while trying to fight back,” Police Superintendent Kartik Kasyap told CNN. The results of a post-mortem have yet to be released. Police said the woman was carrying a British passport. “We are supporting the family of a British-Irish woman following her death in Goa, India. Our thoughts are with them at this very difficult time. Indian police are conducting an investigation and we are in close contact with them,” a British Foreign Office spokesman told CNN. Known for its beaches and nightlife, Goa is a popular holiday destination for tourists from all over the world. In 2016, over 6.3 million local and foreign tourists visited the state, according to the Goa Department of Tourism. Last September, two men were acquitted of the rape and murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling. Keeling’s bruised, partially clothed body was found on Anjuna beach in Goa in 2008. Police initially said the 15-year-old drowned after taking drugs, but her mother rejected that account. She launched a campaign for a second autopsy, and investigators eventually confirmed Keeling was sexually assaulted before her death. Local media and a state minister said at the time that police covered up the killing to protect Goa’s tourism industry.


"I believe that there's going to be significant regulatory change on day one," Pruitt said in a November interview. Pruitt has consistently denied the scientific consensus on global warming. One day after Donald Trump declared victory in the 2016 presidential election, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt took to the airwaves on a local radio show titled “Exploring Energy.” In the interview, Pruitt, whom Trump has since chosen to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, said the new administration would undo environmental executive orders and regulations passed under President Obama. “I believe that there’s going to be significant regulatory change on day one,” Pruitt said. “I think there’ll be executive orders that will be issued that will undo many of the—President Obama’s executive action in the energy space and healthcare space and finance area, banking.” In choosing Pruitt to head the EPA, Trump has sent a clear message that he intends to follow through on his campaign promise to cut back on environmental regulations that he and many Republicans have long argued harm businesses. A CNN KFile review of Pruitt’s interviews and public statements reinforces an emerging image of him as a pick who will roll back Obama-era environmental regulations and oppose efforts to address climate change. In the same interview on Nov. 10, Pruitt claimed the Trump administration would roll back EPA rules like the Clean Power Plan and Waters of the United States, saying, “There’ll have to be rules proposed by the EPA to withdraw those, but that will happen, and there will be notice and comments that will be taken and then those rules with ultimately be withdrawn.” As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt has followed through on promises he made on the campaign trail when running for his office in 2010 to “make sure the EPA doesn’t regulate carbon emissions outside of Congressional authority.” He has led the fight against Obama administration EPA regulations including the Waters of the United States rule, Clean Power Plan, and methane regulations. Speaking at a town hall in 2014, Pruitt said the best thing the government could do to create jobs would be to “make sure the EPA is not being onerous upon the energy companies in this country.” Pruitt has also vigorously defended the fossil fuels industry. In interviews, he has said the Obama administration was waging a “war on fossil fuels,” said ” that a target has been put on the fossil fuel industry” and the Obama administration was “trying to put fossil fuels out business.” The New York Times reported in 2014 that a letter that was sent by Pruitt to the EPA was  nearly entirely written by Oklahoma-based  company Devon Energy. Pruitt’s office told the Times in response to the story that it was “the content of the request, not the source of the request that is relevant.” In an October interview with “Exploring Energy,” Pruitt criticized those protesting the Dakota Access pipeline as “hyper-environmentalists” who are for “simply stopping all forms of fossil fuel energy.” On climate change policy, which the Obama administration has made a top priority in recent years, Pruitt has consistently denied the scientific consensus on global warming. “There’s a tremendous dispute, as you know, that’s going on in the marketplace about how much this global warming trend that the administration talks about, if it’s true or not,” Pruitt said on a October 2016 episode of “Exploring Energy.” “Is it truly man-made and is this just simply another period of time where the Earth is cooling, increasing in heat? Is it just typical, natural type of occurrences as opposed what the administration says?” He continued, “What people don’t realize is that what the scientists have done is input data into a computer and produced modeling as far as the trajectory of what’s going to occur. It’s predictive in nature. It’s speculative in nature. It’s not objectively measured, as far as us knowing for sure what’s going to occur. Look, I mean, I think there should be a vigorous debate about that. I mean, I think that … We ought to have true science. We ought to let science be science and let it educate and inform the policy makers on what should and should not occur.” In an interview earlier in the year on the same show, Pruitt again framed climate change as a debate. “Fundamentally, from my perspective, it’s wrong at its core because the debate about climate change is truly that. It’s debate,” he said. “There are scientists that agree. There are scientists who don’t agree to the extent of man’s contribution, and what’s even harmful at this point. We’ve had ebb and flow. We’ve had obviously, climate conditions change throughout our history. That’s scientific fact. It gets cooler, it gets hotter. We don’t know the trajectory, if it is on an unsustainable course. Nor do we know the extent by which the burning of fossil fuels, man’s contribution to that, is making this far worse than it is. In fact, studies show in the last decade or so, that carbon emissions are actually down. The United States has done a tremendous amount of work to lower those carbon emissions.” In August 2015 appearance, discussing proposed climate change regulations, Pruitt expressed his belief that proposed regulations couldn’t do anything to stop warming, but would hurt the U.S. economy. Pruitt said China and India committed far more pollution than the U.S. “We care about economic growth. We balance it very, very well. China does not. India does not. This president is terribly naïve,” he said. “This president believes that if he stands up and says, ‘We want to punish ourselves,’ the country, and force ourselves to do things that are not actually dictated by the statutes, and shrink our economy, that somehow China or India are going to wake up and say, ‘Oh, look what the United States is doing. We’re going to change what we’re doing.’ Well, that’s never going to happen. In fact, they’re laughing at us as we go through this process. “I think it decreases the temperature by all of .0016 degree. It’s not going to change anything with respect to our future. What it’s going to do is kill our economy, and kill energy production in this country, and make us less than what we can and should be as a country. This president’s world view doesn’t fit the world,” Pruitt concluded.


Editor’s Note: Danny Cevallos is a CNN legal analyst who practices in the areas of personal injury, wrongful conviction and criminal defense in Pennsylvania, New York and the US Virgin Islands at the law firms of Cevallos & Wong in Philadelphia, and Edelman & Edelman in New York, where he is of counsel.  Follow him on Twitter @CevallosLaw. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. Danny Cevallos: Remark about presidential assassination was outrageous but protected He says in context, it didn't pose a threat but was crude way of stating political opposition Johnny Depp loves trouble. Recently, at the Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom, he prefaced some remarks with “This is going to be in the press, and it will be horrible. …” Yes?  We’re listening … His next statement delivered: “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?” His prediction was accurate: It was indeed a horrible statement, and it is now all over the press. The Secret Service is already on it:  It’s aware of the remarks but cannot officially comment on them, according to Secret Service staff. As outrageous as it was for the actor to say this (the President’s security is a serious matter of national security), the Secret Service can probably save some resources and let this one go. Johnny Depp is no threat. Related video Johnny Depp mocks his dog smuggling apology First, let’s consider: Federal law criminalizes “knowingly and willfully” threatening to kill or physically harm the president. But to bring it outside the protections of the First Amendment, the law requires a “true threat” – a serious expression of intent to do harm to the president. A “true threat” against the President does not require that Depp intended to carry it out, or even that he had the capacity to do so. This is because criminalizing threats serves two purposes: avoiding the risk that the threat may be carried out, and also protecting against the terror inflicted on others by threats. It’s an objective definition: If a reasonable person would foresee the statement would be interpreted by the audience hearing it as a serious expression of an intention to harm or kill the president, then it’s a true threat. Still, the law criminalizing presidential threats does not target offensive humor, bad taste or political hyperbole, as the Supreme Court made clear in Watts v. United States in 1969. In that case, the high court held that the speech of a man who had said during a public political debate that, if inducted into the Army and made to carry a rifle “the first man I want to get in my sights is LBJ” was “crude political hyperbole which, in light of its context and conditional nature, did not constitute a knowing and willful threat against the President.” Related video Ted Nugent's hate speech Said the court: “We agree with petitioner that his only offense here was ‘a kind of very crude offensive method of stating a political opposition to the President.’ Taken in context, and regarding the expressly conditional nature of the statement and the reaction of the listeners, we do not see how it could be interpreted otherwise.” Depp’s attempt at humor is not a crime; it’s just a galactically stupid statement by a celebrity trying to sound clever. The problem is, celebrities such as Depp spend their careers having everyone laugh at their jokes and nod approvingly at everything else they say. It’s natural they would begin to think every word they utter is some holy nugget of wisdom. Surely celebs have responsibility for what they say; maybe we all bear some responsibility for letting them think they are so cool. In fact, there’s a decent argument to be made that celebrities rarely pose a risk of harm to the president. Their lives are too fabulous to commit an act of terror, right? Should we have a different standard for evaluating potential threats by celebrities versus those of mere mortals? Maybe. Related video CNN fires Kathy Griffin over anti-Trump photo Take the recent controversy over comedian Kathy Griffin holding up a fake bloody Trump head during a photo shoot. No one should take that as a threat. It’s harsh political speech, and maybe a joke in poor taste. Part of that interpretation is based on her status – not as a celebrity but as a satirist. She has a proven record of poking fun at people – not assassinating them. It’s OK to take that into account. It’s not special treatment; it’s just realistic and efficient threat assessment. Famous people are not better than the rest of us, but  famous people are statistically not as likely to be terrorists in general. Johnny Depp doesn’t fit the profile of a shoe bomber or a clock tower sniper. This is not about fawning over or excusing Hollywood luminaries; it’s about conserving law enforcement resources, and smart policing. When taken in context, considering the speaker and the audience and the setting, Depp’s comment was little more than a very crude – but protected – method of stating a political opposition to President Donald Trump.

Johnny Depp's remark about presidential assassination