Ted Cruz campaigns yesterday in San Diego. (Bill Wechter/AFP/Getty Images)

 THE BIG IDEA:

 The Drudge Report has aggressively portrayed Ted Cruz’s sweep of all the delegates from Colorado’s Republican convention as a corrupt power grab.

 The site named for Matt Drudge, who broke the story of Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky and still runs it, links to nine stories this morning with salacious headlines about the convention. Among them: “Savage: Cruz should disavow rigged Colorado election … Buchanan: Apparatchiks thieve delegates for Ted … 1 MILLION REPUBLICANS SIDELINED … Border Patrol Agents: Colorado Voters Disenfranchised.” Keep in mind that this is three days after the Colorado convention.

 Our analytics partners at Zignal Labs say the Drudge attacks are breaking through on social media in a significant way. This word cloud, which tracks all Cruz mentions since Saturday, shows the extent to which Drudge has shaped the conversation about Cruz’s win in Colorado. Note the prominence of the words “cheating” and “drudge”:

 This kind of squabbling will only get louder as the delegate wrestling and wrangling intensifies. And it has clearly gotten under Cruz’s skin.

 In a radio interview yesterday, the Texas senator ripped into Drudge as an arm of Donald Trump’s campaign. “In about the past month, the Drudge Report has basically become the attack site for the Trump campaign,” he told conservative host Mike Slater. “So every day they have the latest Trump attack. They’re directed at me. … Most days they have a six-month-old article that is some attack on me, and it’s whatever the Trump campaign is pushing that day will be the banner headline on Drudge.”

 “By the way, they no longer cover news,” Cruz added of Drudge. “When we win a state, suddenly the state doesn’t matter. You know Colorado — there was no red siren on Drudge when we won all 34 delegates in Colorado.”

 Drudge responded by posting a link to a January Fox News interview in which Cruz praised the conservative site for breaking the mainstream media’s “stranglehold."

 Matt Drudge. (Photo by Lucian Perkins)

 It’s never good to pick a fight with a guy who buys ink by the barrel, as they say. Or whatever the 2016 version of that line is.

 If it was just Trump complaining about the “crooked” system, it would seem like sour grapes from a guy who got out-hustled. But The Donald’s allies in the right-wing media, including Drudge and Breitbart, are trying to make Cruz’s wins seem illegitimate in the eyes of the conservative base. If Cruz wins the nomination at a contested convention in Cleveland, he will need these grass-roots activists to rally around him. If regular Drudge readers believe he did not win fair and square, they will be less inclined to do so.

 Interestingly, the increasing scrutiny from Drudge comes as the Democratic National Committee begins to train more of its fire at Cruz. After focusing almost single-mindedly on Trump for months, the DNC held a press call yesterday to blast the Texan ahead of campaign stops in California. Ironically, they pushed a similar message as Drudge: “Cruz’s campaign is proving to be just as divisive for the Republican Party as his tenure in the Senate has been for our country,” said the DNC communications director. “That’s why there just isn’t a whole lot of excitement for Cruz being the Republican nominee.”

 Ayn Rand, the Russian-born American novelist, in Manhattan circa 1962. (AP Photo)

 – Donald Trump says he identifies with Howard Roark from Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead.” He praised the novel and its protagonist in a broader interview with USA Today that posted yesterday. “It relates to business, beauty, life and inner emotions. That book relates to ... everything,” the GOP front-runner told the paper. Columnist Kirsten Powers writes that she pointed out that “The Fountainhead” is “in a way about the tyranny of groupthink.” Trump reportedly sat up and told her, “That’s what is happening here.”

 For those who haven't read the book since high school, Roark is an architect who dynamites a housing project he designed because he is angry about changes that others made to his blueprints. He’s then put on trial for arson, but a jury acquits him after he delivers an eloquent speech about the need to always stay true to one’s self. Gary Cooper delivered the courtroom monologue in the 1949 film adaptation:

 Bottom line, Roark is a self-centered individualist who steadfastly refuses to submit to the will of others. “He is presented as the author's version of an ideal man — one who embodies the virtues of Rand's objectivist philosophy,” the CliffNotes character analysis explains. “Roark is an example of free will — the theory that an individual has the power, by virtue of the choices he makes, to control the outcome of his own life. A man's thinking and values are not controlled by God or the fates or society or any external factor — but solely by his own choice.”

 Is The Donald threatening to blow up the Republican Party if he’s spurned in Cleveland? He almost certainly has not thought through the implications of publicly identifying with Roark and embracing objectivism. But it’s nonetheless another revealing window into his psyche.

 It’s also a reflection of how Trump does not play by the same rules that normal politicians must. In 2012, Paul Ryan tried hard to distance himself from Rand, whose work he had often praised. “I adored her novels when I was young, and in many ways they gave me an interest in economics,” he told the New York Times Magazine in 2014. “But as a devout, practicing Catholic, I completely reject the philosophy of objectivism.”

 WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

 -- Forty percent of former NFL players show signs of traumatic brain injuries, according to a groundbreaking study that will be presented at next week’s American Academy of Neurology. This is one of the largest studies performed on living NFL players, and it offers “the most conclusive evidence yet” of a definitive link between brain injury and playing football. Travis M. Andrews explains that the study is based on sensitive MRI scans called diffusion tensor imaging.

 GET SMART FAST:

 Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $5 billion to settle allegations that it sold shoddy mortgages in the period leading up to the financial crisis. (Renae Merle) Brazilian scientists linked Zika to another neurological disease in adults, sparking new concerns about the potential scope and complexity of the mosquito borne virus. (Ariana Eunjung Cha) Meanwhile, the CDC urged Congress to provide additional funding to combat Zika. “Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought,” the deputy director said during a White House briefing. (Time) Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) will run for Republican Policy Committee Chairman. The #4 post in GOP leadership has been held by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) since 2012. ( Washington Examiner ) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was charged with securities fraud after allegedly recruiting investors to a tech startup while serving as a state legislator. Paxton was indicted for similar misdeeds last year, and could face years in prison if convicted. (Texas Tribune) A former Energy Department employee was sentenced to 18 months in prison after plotting a cyberattack on federal government computers. (Spencer S. Hsu) Tesla Motors is recalling its Model X sport utility vehicles, agreeing to replace more than 325,000 pre-orders after strength tests revealed issues with the car’s third-row seats. (Bloomberg) Boeing and Lockheed are planning to launch commercial “space habitats” for tourists and researchers. (Christian Davenport) To recognize Equal Pay day, President Obama is naming a national monument to honor women’s equality. The designation will protect the Belmont-Paul house that has served as the headquarters for the National Woman’s Party since 1929. (Juliet Eilperin) As the Supreme Court prepares to make a ruling in a case challenging Texas’s stringent abortion regulations, more than 200 women (on both sides of the issue) have filed friend-of-the-court briefs detailing their private abortion experiences. ( Theresa Vargas) A congressional committee in Brazil voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, bringing the ouster of the embattled leader one step closer. The vote will go to the full lower house at week’s end. (AP) Support for the Islamic State is declining among young Arabs, according to a 16-country survey. Nearly 80 percent ruled out any possibility of supporting the militant group – even if it were to renounce its brutal tactics -- compared with 60 percent the year before. (Joby Warrick) Two California teens were arrested after they produced a video threatening a black student with a noose and a gun. (Emma Brown)

 MORE ON THE REPUBLICAN RACE:

 Trump speaks last night during a campaign event in Albany, N.Y. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

 -- Phyllis Schlafly is facing backlash after endorsing Trump last month, including an attempt to oust her as the head of the Eagle Forum, the conservative group she founded 44 years ago to stop the Equal Rights Amendment. From David Weigel: "Ed Martin, who Schlafly elevated to president of Eagle Forum in 2015, told [the Post] that Schlafly had not been ousted yet, but that it was clearly the plan of Eagle's board. In an interview with WorldNetDaily, which publishes her work, the 91-year-old Schafly speculated that her Trump endorsement and opposition to the idea of a National Convention of States had roiled her opponents."

 -- John Kasich, speaking today in Manhattan, will call his candidacy the GOP's only way out of a “path to darkness.” “Without naming Cruz or Trump, Kasich plans to indict them both,” writes Weigel, who reviewed the planned remarks.

 -- Ben Carson continues to be the worst surrogate of the cycle. He admitted yesterday that his support for Trump is “purely pragmatic" and said he'd probably oppose him “if the stakes weren’t so high.” (BuzzFeed)

 -- Trump told USA Today he could envision putting Marco Rubio in his cabinet. “Yes. I like Marco Rubio. Yeah. I could,” he said. “There are people I have in mind in terms of vice president. I just haven’t told anybody names. ... I do like Marco. I do like Kasich. … I like [Scott] Walker actually in a lot of ways. I hit him very hard. ... But I’ve always liked him. There are people I like, but I don’t think they like me because I have hit them hard.”

 -- MORE DELEGATE SETBACKS FOR TRUMP, in addition to the ones outlined in yesterday's 202. Per Ed O'Keefe, Trump also got outgunned last weekend in:

 VIRGINIA: Trump won the southernmost, 9th congressional district overwhelmingly on March 1, but he got just one of three delegates at the district-level convention on Saturday. The two other delegates say they will support Cruz after the first round.

 The two other delegates say they will support Cruz after the first round. INDIANA: The Hoosier State uses one of the most exclusive, closed delegate selection methods in the nation. That appears to have cost Trump dearly.… News reports say party leaders picked delegates who are less likely to support Trump in later ballots at the national convention. With few connections to state party leaders, the Trump campaign concedes it dropped the ball here. ( Trump aide s pointed to ALABAMA, where they won a majority of eight committee assignments .)

 Delegate scoreboard since Rubio got out:

 Cruz 120

 Trump 65

 Uncommitted 29

 Kasich 0 — Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) April 11, 2016

 MORE ON THE DEMOCRATIC RACE:

 Clinton arrives to a Conversation on Gun Violence Prevention event in Long Island. (Yana Paskova/The Washington Post)

 -- THREE NEW YORK POLLS: With one week until the primary, Trump and Clinton are dominating:

 Trump holds a commanding 43-point lead, and Clinton is up 13 points (50-37), according to a new NY1/Baruch College poll. The GOP front-runner is supported by 60 percent of likely Republican voters, followed by Kasich with 17 percent and Cruz with 14 percent.

 The GOP front-runner is supported by 60 percent of likely Republican voters, followed by Kasich with 17 percent and Cruz with 14 percent. The NBC-Marist survey has Trump up 33 (with Kasich at 21 and Cruz at 18). Clinton leads by 14 (55-41).

 A Monmouth University poll puts Clinton up 12 (51-39). The candidates are basically tied among white primary voters, while Clinton enjoys a large lead over Bernie Sanders among African Americans and Hispanics.

 So much for home-field advantage: That Monmouth survey finds only 29 percent of voters consider Clinton -- who has lived in the state for 16 years and served as senator for eight years -- to be a “real New Yorker,” while 28 said the same for Sanders, who left the state after high school.

 -- Tensions continued to escalate in the battle for New York:

 Clinton devoted a Long Island campaign event entirely to gun control, all but blaming Sanders for crime in New York City. From Philip Rucker and Abby Phillip: “Clinton convened a round table-style discussion … where she, along with the local congressman, Rep. Steve Israel (D), and gun-safety advocates hammered Sanders.... 'Here’s what I want you to know: Most of the guns that are used in crimes and violence and killings in New York come from out of state. The state that has the highest per-capita number of those guns that end up committing crime in New York come from Vermont,’ Clinton said, eliciting gasps.… ‘So this is not, ‘Oh, no, I live in a rural state. We don’t have any of these problems.'"

 The Post's Fact Checker gives Clinton Three Pinocchios for this line of attack: "Clinton has carefully crafted the talking point to find the particular government data that support her point, which gives a wildly different view than how trafficking flows are tracked," Michelle Ye Hee Lee writes. "We do not find the per capita measure as a fair assessment of gun flows from Vermont into New York. The difference between this point using per capita calculation and the raw number (1 percent of crime guns with source states identified in 2014 came from Vermont) is so stark that it creates a significantly misleading impression to the public."

 Sanders called for a national ban on fracking. The Vermont senator released a new ad to highlight his opposition, narrated by actress Susan Sarandon. "Do Washington politicians side with polluters over families?" asks Sarandon. "They sure do, because Big Oil pumps millions into their campaigns. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate for president who opposes fracking everywhere."

 -- Joe Biden said Sanders calling Clinton "unqualified" was not sexist but something said in the heat of a campaign. During an interview with Mic.com, the vice president was asked about Sanders’ comment and if he thought Hillary is held to a higher standard because she is a woman. “No, I don’t think she’s held to a higher standard,” he replied.

 “This country’s ready for a woman,” Biden elaborated. “There’s no problem. We’re going to be able to elect a woman in this country.”

 When the female interviewer asked Biden if he’d like to see a woman elected, a male aide to the VP interrupted from off camera and tried to end the interview. “That’s it,” he said. “I would like to see a woman elected,” Biden said. “I don’t mind,” he told the staffers standing off camera. “The president and I are not going to endorse because we both when we ran said, ‘let the party decide.’ But gosh almighty, they’re both qualified,” he added. “Hillary is overwhelmingly qualified to be president.”

 -- “Past cases suggest Hillary won’t be indicted," by Politico's Josh Gerstein: A review of dozens of recent federal investigations "suggests that it’s highly unlikely, but not impossible. The examination … found some parallels to Clinton’s use of a private server for her emails, but, in nearly all instances that were prosecuted, aggravating circumstances [existed] that don’t appear to be present in Clinton’s case. The relatively few cases that drew prosecution almost always involved a deliberate intent to violate classification rules as well as some add-on element … a Boeing engineer who brought home 2000 classified documents and whose travel to Israel raised suspicions; a [NSA] official who removed boxes of classified documents and also lied on a job application form. And former prosecutors, investigators and defense attorneys generally agree that prosecution for classified information breaches is the exception rather than the rule.… 'They always involve some ‘plus’ factor,’ one former federal prosecutor said.”

 -- Bill de Blasio intimated in an interview with Katie Couric that his kids are supporting Sanders, even though he’s backing Clinton. “My kids will speak for themselves,” he told the Yahoo anchor, “but I’ll say this much, they’re the kind of young person that is going to fight for change, no matter what. And absolutely will support the Democratic nominee, whoever it is.” (Watch the full interview here.)

 WAPO HIGHLIGHT:

 Hundreds of refugees walk in the Southern Jutland motorway in Denmark. (AP/Martin Lehmann)

 -- “Denmark, a social welfare utopia, takes a nasty turn on refugees,” by Griff Witte: "Lise Ramslog was out for a stroll in Denmark when she stumbled upon hundreds of exhausted asylum seekers. 70-year-old Ramslog instantly decided to help, transporting several refugees to Sweden. Many would consider Ramslog a good Samaritan. But the Danish government has a different term for her: convicted human smuggler. Denmark is celebrated as a social-welfare utopia. Ranking high in its pantheon of heroes are those who protected Jews during the Holocaust, or who helped oppressed during the Cold War. But when it comes to those fleeing 21st-century conflicts, Denmark has gone into overdrive to broadcast hostility … While Germany continues to welcome asylum seekers, and others held doors open for as long as they could, Denmark has taken a hard line almost from the beginning. Now ordinary Danes are getting caught up in the crackdown, punished for quintessentially good deeds. 'I’m proud of what I did and will never regret ... it,' said Ramslog, her eyes welling with tears. 'But I don’t want to be known as a criminal.'"

 -- Meet Trump’s “Beltway establishment guy” -- campaign lawyer and former FEC chairman Donald F. McGahn II. By Ben Terris: "The night Trump notched his first presidential win, he took the stage and lit into special interests that he declared corrupted Washington. Over his shoulder, a ruddy-faced man licked his teeth. He appeared out of place and seemed to know it. McGahn is one of [the country’s] top election lawyers, a job so highly specialized that its practitioners are almost unavoidably ‘Washington insiders’ by definition.... For a while, McGahn's colleagues either didn't know the firm was representing Trump or didn't mind. That changed late last month when McGahn organized a meeting between the candidate and more than a dozen lawmakers at the firm [Jones Day].… Many current employees just about lost their minds.”

 SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

 Lesson learned: if you tweet to Ernest Moniz about his hair, he might tweet back:

 I know it's time for my kid to get a haircut when he starts looking like Energy Secretary @ErnestMoniz pic.twitter.com/qRcPlwIFwj — Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) April 10, 2016

 I say grow it out. Nothing wrong with looking like a scientist. https://t.co/6TYn6Wqjge — Ernest Moniz (@ErnestMoniz) April 11, 2016

 There was a cash bar at Cruz's event in Orange County:

 Not messing around for Ted Cruz's 11:30 a.m. event in Irvine, Calif. pic.twitter.com/RffwBrgxc0 — Katie Zezima (@katiezez) April 11, 2016

 Looks like Shailene Woodley is for Sanders:

 The scaffolding keeps coming down around the Capitol dome:

 More than 400 arrests were made yesterday at the Capitol in connection with Democracy Spring demonstrations. (Martin Weil)

 At #DemocracySpring. Crowd at protest. The arrests have begun. Very strong showing! pic.twitter.com/WDxOXkIePu — Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) April 11, 2016

 Sanders tweeted his support:

 We must overturn Citizens United if we are serious about maintaining the foundations of American democracy. #DemocracySpring — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 11, 2016

 Americans understand that our gov't is dominated by big money. Glad to see people taking action to restore democracy. #DemocracySpring — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 11, 2016

 Former senator Carl Levin now has a ship named after him:

 Was pleased to attend the Navy ship-naming ceremony in honor of former Senator Carl Levin. Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/aKyejZdELp — Senator Gary Peters (@SenGaryPeters) April 11, 2016

 What a well deserved tribute for such a wonderful man. Congratulations, @SenCarlLevin! pic.twitter.com/7Xy7aaQFWl — Sen. Debbie Stabenow (@SenStabenow) April 11, 2016

 Cindy McCain hung out with Heidi Heitkamp and Cory Booker over the weekend:

 Love these two. @senatorheitkamp and @corybooker It was a great weekend of the Sedona Forum @mccaininstitute A photo posted by Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) on Apr 11, 2016 at 4:21pm PDT

 Lawmakers celebrated National Pet Day:

 Mac #nationalpetday A photo posted by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (@repkevinmccarthy) on Apr 11, 2016 at 10:23am PDT

 Happy #NationalPetDay to all of our friends who make our days brighter. A photo posted by Senator David Perdue (@sendavidperdue) on Apr 11, 2016 at 10:09am PDT

 Happy #nationalpetday from Lily (📷 credit AP) A photo posted by Representative Jeff Denham (@repjeffdenham) on Apr 11, 2016 at 10:36am PDT

 Happy #NationalPetDay to my favorite canine policy advisor, Cowboy! pic.twitter.com/srKKc6RiRy — Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) April 11, 2016

 In honor of #NationalPetDay, meet our rescues Aspen & Denver. Hope you are enjoying the day with your #pets #NV03 pic.twitter.com/Z5fkeCmede — Congressman Joe Heck (@RepJoeHeck) April 11, 2016

 My two Cavanese (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel + Havanese) puppies, Rey and Finn, when we first met one month ago! pic.twitter.com/KtRcR4Elcn — Justin Amash (@justinamash) April 11, 2016

 We adopted our cat Hemic from @hawaiianhumane more than 20 years ago, and he's been a member of our family ever since #nationalpetday A photo posted by Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) on Apr 11, 2016 at 1:31pm PDT

 Happy #NationalPetDay. A photo posted by Barack Obama (@barackobama) on Apr 11, 2016 at 11:45am PDT

 The old Washington Post building is almost gone:

 I'm a Washington Post romantic, so this is a somewhat melancholic sight: pic.twitter.com/kkBkP04s7N — Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) April 11, 2016

 GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

 -- CBS, “Meet the ‘Trump Bros,’” by Jacqueline Alemany: "Eighteen-year-old Jack Rowe sat in the front row of a Trump rally sandwiched between friends. Rowe had some thoughts on Trump's rhetorical treatment of women, which had been dominating headlines. 'Misogyny was an issue about maybe 60, 80 years ago,' said Rowe. 'You know, ISIS is chopping off heads … We’ve got bigger fish to fry.' Young men like Rowe are a common sight at Trump rallies: Mostly white, they travel in packs. They are dudes, jocks, preps … On the campaign trail, they’re known simply as 'Trump Bros.' David Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, said Trump's appeal to young men speaks to anxiety over creeping 'political correctness.' 'It's an F-U to society, who is telling us we are a bad guy because we like hooking up with girls on spring break,' he added. And they see Trump sticking up for that. Manas, a young entrepreneur … whose Twitter bio reads 'Bros do Bro Things' and who made a point of checking himself out in his iPhone camera in selfie mode before speaking with a reporter, piped in enthusiastically. 'I love women!' he said. Trump took the stage, and they screamed."

 -- New York Times, “Trump and New York Tabloids Resume Their Elaborate Dance,” by Michael M. Grynbaum: “As newspaper assignments go, this was a delicate one. Fly to Florida. Walk into Trump’s hospital room. Witness the birth of his second daughter. Linda Stasi, a gossip columnist for The Daily News, did as she was told. ‘I called Donald, and he said, ‘You can’t come to the hospital!’’ she recalled 22 years later. ‘I said, I know, but I’m coming anyway.’ ‘O.K.,’ Trump replied. ‘Then come.’ As the presidential spotlight swings to New York … Trump is reuniting with the press corps he knows best, a boisterous tabloid culture that spawned and nurtured [his] outsize Trump personality. It is also the ink-stained caldron in which Trump, over decades, honed the method of media management, cajoling, combating, at times dissembling, that he has unleashed … in this year’s national campaign. Some Americans have been caught off guard by [Trump’s style] but New York’s media veterans detect the old playbook at work. ‘We’ve had that advantage throughout the whole campaign,’ said Daily News editor Jim Rich.”

 HOT ON THE LEFT: "New York City Is About To Be Overrun By Trump Protesters,” from Think Progress: “Inside the 4-star Grand Hyatt New York on Thursday evening … Trump is scheduled to speak at the New York state Republican Gala, a high-status, black tie fundraising dinner that costs $1,000 to attend. Outside the hotel, thousands of people are scheduled to protest the event — with the explicit intention of shutting it down. ‘Trump’s rhetoric is an instigation to racist, anti-migrant and misogynist violence,’ said Kalisa Moore, part of the Stop Trump Coalition." HOT ON THE RIGHT “Power Is A LOT More Expensive Under Obama,” from the Daily Caller: “The average American’s electric bill has gone up 10 percent since January, 2009, due in part to regulations imposed by President Barack Obama and state governments, even though the price of generating power has declined. Record low costs for generating electricity thanks to America’s new natural gas supplies created by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, haven’t translated into lower monthly payments for consumers due to new regulations … The biggest price increase in the U.S. was in Kansas, where prices rose … by 39 percent. States like Idaho, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Missouri, Utah, and Ohio saw enormous increases in the price of electricity as well.”

 DAYBOOK:

 On the campaign trail: Everyone but Clinton is in New York. Here's the rundown:

 Clinton: Miami, Miami Beach, Manalapan, Fla.

 Sanders: Rochester, Syracuse, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

 Trump: Rome, N.Y.

 Kasich: New York, N.Y.

 At the White House: President Obama speaks at the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument. In the evening, Vice President Biden speaks at the World FoodProgram USA McGovern-Dole Leadership Award at the Organization of American States.

 On Capitol Hill: The Senate meets at 10 a.m. to resume work on the FAA bill. The House meets at 2 p.m. for legislative business. Four suspension votes are expected at 6:30 p.m.

 QUOTE OF THE DAY: Trump said he forgives his kids for missing New York’s deadline to register as Republicans, which means they will not be able to vote for him on Tuesday. “They were, you know, unaware of the rules, and they didn't register in time, so they feel very, very guilty — they feel very guilty," Trump said on Fox News. “But … I mean, I understand. I think they have to register a year in advance, and they didn't."

 NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

 -- A damp and cloudy morning followed by sunshine through the rest of the week. “Scattered showers with a few heavier downpours are possible this morning, bringing our early starting temperatures in the 60s back down into the 50s," the Capital Weather Gang forecasts. "Rainfall should be from a tenth to a quarter inch with locally heavier totals. Clouds are slow to depart and hence temperatures slower to warm back up vs. yesterday. We’ll aim for partly sunny skies by mid to late afternoon with afternoon highs in the low-middle 60s.”

 -- The Wizards beat the Nets 120-111.

 -- The Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 6-4.

 -- Police are seeking the killer of a 15-year-old boy who was stabbed to death yesterday at the Deanwood Metro stop in Northeast. No word yet on motive. (Clarence Williams and Peter Hermann)

 -- Maryland lawmakers eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, marking a major shift to dependency-based treatment and education as alternatives to incarceration. (Ovetta Wiggins, Josh Hicks and Fenit Nirappil)

 -- In the final hour of Maryland’s session, legislators passed a “Noah’s law.” The safe-driving bill was named after a slain Montgomery County police officer and expands the use of ignition locks for convicted drunk drivers. (Ovetta Wiggins and Josh Hicks)

 -- Terry McAuliffe has now vetoed more legislation than any Virginia governor since 1998, nixing bills from the Republican legislature on hot button issues like gay rights and women's access to health care. (Jenna Portnoy)

 -- The latest of those vetoes: McAuliffe blocked a bill that would require the use of the electric chair if Virginia could not obtain lethal injection drugs. The governor instead offered a “secrecy measure” that shields the identity of pharmacies who supplied the drugs. (Laura Vozzella and Mark Berman)

 -- A 35-year old Woodbridge woman was accused of stabbing a three-month-old baby with a kitchen knife. (Martin Weil)

 -- Police arrested a Metrobus rider in Silver Spring after he began assaulting other passengers and attempted to kick open the bus door. (Faiz Siddiqui)

 VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

 Excited about baseball season? Watch this kid bust a move on first base:

 A rare black rhino was euthanized in Zimbabwe after a poacher attack:

 Watch a baby wallaby peek out from his mom's pouch for the first time:

 Finally, check out SNL's Clinton impersonators through the years: ||||| Cruz told The Mike Slater Show that while the "Drudge Report over the years has done a good job highlighting the excesses of the left," it's become critical of him recently."

 “In about the past month, the Drudge Report has basically become the attack site for the Donald Trump campaign,” Cruz said. “So every day they have the latest Trump attack, they're directed at me. Most days they have a six-month-old article that is some attack on me, and it’s whatever the Trump campaign is pushing that day will be the banner headline on Drudge."

 “By the way, they no longer cover news,” Cruz continued. “When we win a state, suddenly the state doesn’t matter. You know Colorado, there was no red siren on Drudge when we won all 34 delegates in Colorado.”

 Drudge responded by posting a link to a January interview where Cruz remarked positively, "We have got the internet, we have got the Drudge Report."

 Drudge also linked to a Washington Post article headlined, "Ted Cruz’s war with Matt Drudge could become a huge problem for his campaign." ||||| Ted Cruz says the Drudge Report has become propaganda for Donald Trump’s campaign.

 “Drudge Report over the years has done a good job highlighting the excesses of the left and the excesses of liberalism, and about the past month the Drudge Report has basically become the attack site for the Donald Trump campaign,” Cruz said on the Mike Slater Show on Monday. “And so every day they have the latest Trump attack, they’re directed at me. By all appearances, Roger Stone now decides what’s on Drudge. And most days, they have six-month-old article that is some attack on me and it’s whatever the Trump campaign is pushing that day will be the banner headline on Drudge.”

 Cruz said Drudge doesn’t put election results on his site anymore now that he has started to win primaries and caucuses.

 “When we win the state, suddenly the state doesn’t matter,” Cruz said. “There was no red siren on Drudge when we won all 34 delegates in Colorado. That wasn’t news.” ||||| “Fury as Colorado has no primary or caucus!” shrieked a scandalized Drudge Report on Monday morning. That would be news to the roughly 60,000 Republicans who caucused across the state on March 1, many of whom attended Saturday’s GOP State Assembly.

 Matt Drudge was channeling the phony indignation of his chosen candidate as Donald Trump spent the evening on Twitter and the morning on Fox News complaining that Colorado’s delegate selection process was “a crooked deal.” (If it strikes you as odd that a “news” site has an obvious bias toward a particular candidate, you might not be alone.)

 The real crooked deal, and perhaps the reason that Trump and friends are so frenzied in waving around the shiny object of faux corruption, is Donald Trump’s so-called charity: According to an analysis by the Washington Post released Sunday night, 2,900 of the 4,844 reported charitable contributions by Mr. Trump from 2009 through 2014 were free rounds of golf at his golf courses. Others were such things as “175 free hotel stays, 165 free meals and 11 gift certificates to spas.”

 Higher-valued “charity” included conservation easements granted on property he owned — likely to have been conditions of receiving permits for land development. According to the Post, not a single item of charity in the “93-page document compiled by the Trump campaign” is a “cash gift from Trump himself.”

 At the risk of playing into Mr. Trump’s distraction from the faux-charity bombshell, let’s return to the Centennial State:

 Despite the rules of the contest having been set months ago and available for all to read and understand, and despite the votes of thousands of previously elected delegates on Saturday, Mr. Trump has the cojones to say on national television that in Colorado “there was no voting. I didn’t go out there to make a speech or anything…”

 In fact, Donald Trump was invited to speak to the roughly 7,000 party faithful at the assembly but declined, having a surrogate, Stephen Miller, do so in his place, while Ted Cruz came to Colorado Springs and continued his domination of Mr. Trump in circumstances in which political organization and base-motivating have been determinative. During the event, Mr. Miller said to the assembled delegates that no state has treated the Trump campaign as fairly as Colorado has, under the leadership of State Republican Party Chairman Steve House.

 Mr. Trump seems so incapable of developing tactics around relatively easy-to-understand political rules that one wonders how he has succeeded in real estate development. Perhaps the difference is that Trump can’t actually corrupt and manipulate the Republican Party the way he wishes he could (I guess the GOP doesn’t need a conservation easement) — and the way he has succeeding in corrupting and manipulating the media. (See Fox’s Steve Doocy mindlessly parroting Trump, “It’s rigged!”)

 Which brings me back to the reprehensible Monday performance of the Drudge Report.

 Consider the four headlines “above the fold” on Drudge’s web page just after 8 AM Eastern Time:

 Let’s consider the relevance and accuracy of this “news” aggregation, taking each story in turn:

 The first link is a wildly misleading rewording of a headline in the 7-month-old article it links to, which reported that the state GOP changed its rules for the caucus to remove a binding presidential straw poll and instead elect unbound delegates to the state convention. Yes, the process is arcane and no, it’s not the best way for Colorado to select delegates (which is why the next time around we will likely have a primary election rather than caucuses).

 In any case, to reword the true headline in order to imply, as Drudge did, that somehow Colorado would not participate in a presidential election borders on journalistic malpractice. Actually, it’s well across the border. It’s an illegal alien in the land of ethical political news coverage and, per Mr. Trump’s own wishes, should be deported immediately.

 Drudge’s second headline implies that large numbers of Colorado Republicans were so disgusted by this weekend’s proceedings that there was a mass burning of voter registration forms. Instead the video links to one bitter man burning a form that he claims is some sort of GOP registration. However, the man in the video is the same man who posted another anti-GOP video which appears to be, to put it plainly, a pack of lies. Even if this man were genuine in his anger and behavior, a single person lighting a single piece of paper on fire hardly qualifies for Drudge’s plural headline, “Voters burn registrations in protest.”

 But wait, there’s more!

 The next headline, “1 million Republicans sidelined,” suggests that Colorado made efforts to disenfranchise masses of Republican voters. In fact, with the possible exception of Iowa, it is reasonable to assume that participation in any state’s caucuses is lower than participation would be if the state had a primary election because the former requires effort.

 Republicans were not “sidelined” in Colorado any more than they are in the dozen or so other states and territories that utilize caucuses, nor are Republicans sidelined any more than Democrats are due to a state’s choice to have a caucus. It is fair to note that Colorado’s rule change away from a binding straw poll diminished caucus participation but that was a voluntary choice made by those who could have attended. Anybody registered as a Republican or a Democrat prior to January 4 was eligible to participate in this year’s Colorado caucuses for their respective parties.

 And then there’s Drudge’s final headline which links to another dated Denver Post story, this one an editorial from February in which the paper’s editorial board correctly notes that Colorado’s rules this year did shift some of the delegate selection process into the hands of more active Republicans rather than ordinary caucus-goers. There are items to quibble with in the piece, but the real issue is that Messrs. Trump and Drudge are obviously complaining only because they lost.

 They didn’t just lose. They got utterly walloped. Skunked. Shut out. Aced. Wiped off the state’s electoral map. But it wasn’t because the game was rigged or because Ted Cruz cheated. It was because Trump simply didn’t play.

 Trump didn’t come to Colorado; Cruz did. Trump fired his local staffer just days before the assembly, giving his replacement an impossible organizational task. Trump’s staff printed delegate guides with errors (compounded by a printing error on the ballot itself, which was not the Trump campaign’s fault). The Cruz campaign created a website to aid supporters; Trump’s didn’t. And so it goes.

 The complaining by Donald “Sore loser” Trump and his pet propagandist Matt Drudge about what happened in Colorado might be worth a moment of consideration if there were important differences between the results here and those from other caucuses, the majority of which Trump also lost. But there aren’t.

 Was Utah’s process — in which Cruz, as in Colorado, won every single delegate — a “crooked deal”? Or Kansas’s? Or any other caucus state? The answer to each is a resounding no, yet in those cases Mr. Trump was (at least relatively) silent. So why the furor over Colorado?

 Donald Trump is squawking about his Colorado loss more than any other is to distract consumers of social media and gullible Fox News couch-sitters, perhaps the biggest donors of free air time to the phone-it-in campaign of The Donald, from the devastating revelation that Donald Trump’s “millions of dollars” in charity over the last several years may not have involved opening his own wallet a single time.

 Colorado’s caucus and assembly process in 2016 left much to be desired — which is why it is all but certain to change — but Donald Trump’s whinging about his loss here has nothing to do with delegates and everything to do with distraction. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Matt Drudge and his Drudge Report have become a big focus of the Republican race this week. Things really took off Monday when Ted Cruz told a conservative radio host that Drudge's website "has basically become the attack site for the Trump campaign," reports BuzzFeed. Cruz took exception to several headlines on the site suggesting that he had won in Colorado over the weekend thanks only to insider politics by party leaders bent on defeating Donald Trump. "And most days, they have six-month-old article that is some attack on me, and it’s whatever the Trump campaign is pushing that day will be the banner headline on Drudge," said Cruz. He added that "they no longer cover news." As the Hill reports, Drudge has responded by linking to a January story in which Cruz sounded pleased with the site: "We have got the Internet, we have got the Drudge Report," he said at the time. Drudge also linked to an analysis in the Washington Post headlined, "Ted Cruz’s war with Matt Drudge could become a huge problem for his campaign." In that piece, James Hohmann writes that a "word cloud" from social media shows that Drudge is making an impact, with the words "cheating" and "drudge" showing up among mentions of Cruz's Colorado win. This should worry Cruz because it could make his victories seem illegitimate to conservatives. "If Cruz wins the nomination at a contested convention in Cleveland, he will need these grass-roots activists to rally around him," writes Hohmann. "If regular Drudge readers believe he did not win fair and square, they will be less inclined to do so." A blogger at the American Spectator, meanwhile, dismisses the "reprehensible" coverage on Drudge as "cheap tabloid tricks." Trump is looking for a "distraction" from the reality that he was beaten soundly in Colorado, where the rules were clear, writes Ross Kaminsky.


Summarize this article:

President Trump: Kennedy Retirement Makes Senate Control 'Vital' For Republicans

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

 During a rally in North Dakota Wednesday night, President Trump underscored the importance of protecting the GOP's Senate majority this fall, deeming it especially critical in the wake of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement.

 "Justice Kennedy's retirement makes the issue of Senate control one of the vital issues of our time — the most important thing we can do," Trump told a crowd in Fargo.

 The president was there to campaign for Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer, who's challenging Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in one of the GOP's top opportunities to pick up a Senate seat. North Dakota is one of 10 states that Trump carried in 2016 in which Democratic incumbents are up for re-election — and he won North Dakota by about 36 points.

 Trump argued that Cramer would support his agenda and, most importantly, his court picks, while Heitkamp will not.

 "Heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the Supreme Court. She will be told to do so," Trump said.

 Heitkamp, however, was one of three Democrats to vote in favor of Trump's first Supreme Court nominee, now-Justice Neil Gorsuch.

 Trump didn't directly mention that vote, but did later claim that sometimes Heitkamp would give Republicans and the White House a "quickie vote" but that "the day after that election, she's voting party line, 100 percent."

 NPR Politics Podcast Analysis: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's Retirement Analysis: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's Retirement Listen · 22:57 22:57

 In a statement after the rally, Heitkamp pushed back, saying she would continue to be her own person in the Senate, election year or not.

 "Anytime the president comes to North Dakota, that's a good thing for our state. While we saw election-year politics today, I'm always willing to work with the president if he's helping North Dakota — and if he's not, I'll speak up," Heitkamp said. "I don't answer to a political party or president, I only answer to North Dakotans, who deserve an independent voice in the Senate. That's why I've always been eager to work across the aisle — including with the president — to get results for our state, and today's rally hasn't changed that."

 Trump continued to tie Heitkamp to the national party throughout the rally nonetheless.

 "When Heidi ran for office, she promised to be an independent vote for the people of North Dakota. Instead, she went to Washington and immediately joined Chuck — you know who Chuck is," Trump said, referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., "and Nancy," that is, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Trump also railed on Democrats' "new leader," Maxine Waters, hitting the liberal California congresswoman who came under fire even from her own leadership in her call for public confrontations against Trump administration officials.

 Trump hit on many of his favorite subjects during the freewheeling rally — immigration, tax cuts, trade, the economy, reveling in his 2016 victory, boasting about the size of the crowd and more. But the Kennedy retirement hung over the night, and Trump also took time in his remarks to honor the retiring justice — an unpredictable swing vote who hasn't always been a favorite of conservatives despite being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. Trump called Kennedy a "very special guy" and promised that he would pick someone with "intellect" as his successor, someone he suggested could serve on the court for 40 or more years.

 "I'm very honored that he chose to [retire] during my term in office. He felt confident in me to make the right choice to carry on his great legacy," Trump said.

 Heitkamp and other red state Democrats will play a crucial role in determining how much resistance a new Supreme Court nominee is met with. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — who controversially blocked President Obama's nominee to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia until after the 2016 election, allowing Trump to fill the seat with Gorsuch — has indicated he wants a vote ahead of the 2018 midterms. But Democrats have called such a decision hypocrisy, given McConnell's insistence against holding a confirmation hearing during an election year.

 The Senate is currently split 51-49 for Republicans, but Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been absent for months battling brain cancer, so the margin for error is even smaller. There are some GOP wildcard votes too — Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski support abortion rights, and one reason Trump supporters are cheering a Kennedy replacement — and Democrats are so fearful — is the belief that a new justice could help overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion.

 Along with Heitkamp, Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana also voted to confirm Gorsuch last year — and the trio of often centrist Democrats are considered some of the most endangered Senate incumbents in November's elections. Given their re-election concerns, they could be under pressure to do so again with Trump's new Supreme Court nominee. Even so, Trump made it clear with Heitkamp on Wednesday night, that won't earn them a pass ahead of the November elections from him or Republicans. ||||| President Donald Trump said that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy made the decision to retire because “he felt confident in me to make the right choice and carry on his great legacy.”

 “I’m very honored he chose to do it during my term in office,” Trump told supporters at a campaign appearance in Fargo, North Dakota on Wednesday evening.

 Kennedy, 81, was nominated in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and served 30 years on the Supreme Court, where he was known as a centrist influence. While he voted with the bench’s conservatives on campaign finance and, earlier this week, to uphold Trump’s travel ban, Kennedy also sided with the Court’s liberal justices on issues such as abortion rights, climate change and authoring the majority opinion to legalize same-sex marriage in 2015.

 Read more: How Anthony Kennedy’s Swing Vote Made Him ‘the Decider’

 Kennedy’s retirement gives the Trump administration an opening to swing the balance of the court for decades. Trump told the crowd in North Dakota that he would nominate a judge that’s “going to that be there for 40, 45 years.”

 “Remember this, so we have a pick to come up, we have to pick a great one,” Trump said. “We need intellect, we need so many things.”

 Trump has already contributed a young, conservative justice to the court: Neil Gorsuch, 50, who is known for his confrontational style and consistently conservative voting record. Gorsuch was confirmed last year after Senate Republicans refused to hold hearings on President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland.

 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised Wednesday that a vote on Kennedy’s replacement would take place as soon as this fall, according to the Associated Press.

 Read more: Why Democrats Want Want to Wait to Replace Anthony Kennedy

 Trump told reporters Wednesday that he would select a name from a list of 25 potential nominees that the White House compiled last year. ||||| Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

 Keith Blackwell of Georgia, Supreme Court of Georgia

 Charles Canady of Florida, Supreme Court of Florida

 Steven Colloton of Iowa, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

 Allison Eid of Colorado, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

 Britt Grant of Georgia, Supreme Court of Georgia

 Raymond Gruender of Missouri, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

 Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

 Brett Kavanaugh of Maryland, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

 Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

 Joan Larsen of Michigan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

 Mike Lee of Utah, United States Senator

 Thomas Lee of Utah, Supreme Court of Utah

 Edward Mansfield of Iowa, Supreme Court of Iowa

 Federico Moreno of Florida, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

 Kevin Newsom of Alabama, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

 William Pryor of Alabama, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

 Margaret Ryan of Virginia, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces

 David Stras of Minnesota, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

 Diane Sykes of Wisconsin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

 Amul Thapar of Kentucky, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

 Timothy Tymkovich of Colorado, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

 Robert Young of Michigan, Supreme Court of Michigan (Ret.)

 Don Willett of Texas, Supreme Court of Texas

 Patrick Wyrick of Oklahoma, Supreme Court of Oklahoma ||||| “Heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the Supreme Court,” President Donald Trump said in North Dakota. “And because of this she will be forced to vote yes. Who knows? And Justice Kennedy’s retirement makes the issue of Senate control one of the vital issues of our time.” | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Trump makes Justice Kennedy an issue in Senate race in North Dakota

 President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening praised retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy — and sought to convince North Dakota voters that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, the state’s incumbent Democrat, would not vote for a conservative replacement on the Supreme Court.

 “I’m very honored that he chose to do it during my term in office, because he felt confident in me to make the right choice and carry on his great legacy,” the president said in Fargo, North Dakota, during a rally for Heitkamp’s Republican opponent in the midterms, Rep. Kevin Cramer. “And I would like to take a moment to show our great appreciation for Justice Kennedy’s lifetime of distinguished service, terrific man.”

 Story Continued Below

 Kennedy announced his retirement earlier Wednesday. The move makes way for another conservative on the high court — the second appointment for Trump, after Justice Neil Gorsuch. It also puts pressure on red-state Democrats ahead of the November elections, including Heitkamp.

 Trump on Wednesday bashed Heitkamp several times as he campaigned for Cramer. The president predicted that she wouldn’t vote for the next nominee, even though Heitkamp voted to confirm Gorsuch.

 “Heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the Supreme Court,” he said. “And because of this she will be forced to vote yes. Who knows? And Justice Kennedy’s retirement makes the issue of Senate control one of the vital issues of our time.”

 Morning Score newsletter Your guide to the permanent campaign — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.

 The president also said his nominee would need to be an “intellect,” but offered no hints as to whom he would choose.

 “Remember this: We have to pick a great one that is going to be there for 40 years or 45 years,” he said. “We need intellect, we need so many things. There is so many elements that goes into the making of a great justice of the Supreme Court.”

  |||||

– President Trump praised Anthony Kennedy during a rally in North Dakota Wednesday evening and said he is "honored" the Supreme Court justice made his bombshell retirement decision when he did. "I'm very honored that he chose to do it during my term in office, because he felt confident in me to make the right choice and carry on his great legacy," Trump said in Fargo, reports Politico. Trump didn't go into detail on potential successors, except to say the person would need "intellect." And he emphasized the ramifications: "We have to pick a great one that is going to be there for 40 years or 45 years." (The pick is expected to come from this list, notes Time.) As NPR reports, Trump also has begun casting the issue as an crucial one in the 2018 midterms, arguing that it's more important than ever that the GOP retain its grip on the Senate. "Justice Kennedy's retirement makes the issue of Senate control one of the vital issues of our time—the most important thing we can do," Trump told the crowd. He was there stumping for Rep. Kevin Cramer, the GOP challenger to Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who is seen as one of the most vulnerable incumbent Democrats given that she represents a red state. "Heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the Supreme Court," he said, though NPR notes she was one of three Democrats to vote in favor of Trump's first pick, Neil Gorsuch.


Write a summary based on this article:

French lawmakers voted in favour Tuesday of a new law granting the state sweeping surveillance powers, despite criticism from civil society groups that have dubbed the bill the “French Patriot Act”.

 The bill passed the National Assembly with 438 votes in favour and just 86 against after it gained the backing of the two main parties – the ruling Socialists and the centre-right UMP. The bill will now go up before the French parliament’s upper house, the Senate, in June.

 The latest intelligence bill is one of several government reforms in the wake of the January 7-9 Paris attacks that left 17 dead. France remains on high alert and has received repeated threats from jihadist groups, including the Islamic State (IS) group in the Syria-Iraq region.

 Rights groups, however, have slammed the new proposals, calling the raft of measures a “French Big Brother”.

 Speaking to FRANCE 24 Tuesday, Felix Tréguer, founder of La Quadrature du Net -- a Paris-based group defending cyber rights --, warned that civil liberties were being overlooked in the push for reforms following the January attacks.

 “The fact is the law was being prepared for a long time,” said Tréguer. “The bill’s advocates wanted a legal framework for the French intelligence agencies, which is a good thing. But the government is actually using the Paris attacks as an excuse for acting against terrorism, but the law is much broader than that. The range of motives that can be invoked to engage in intelligence collection include industrial and scientific espionage, monitoring social movements and so on.”

 The authors of the bill, however, deny it will be used for mass surveillance and reject comparisons with the US Patriot Act passed a month after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

 "We are not going for widespread monitoring because the US [case] has shown that to be useless,” said Jean-Jacques Urvoas, a Socialist Party MP. “This is not going to be run on a predictive basis, we simply aim to ensure enhanced monitoring of those identified as threats.”

 In the ‘realm of the intelligence superpowers’

 Under the bill, private residences can be monitored using geo-location measures, mobile communications can be intercepted, and web usage and communication can be monitored with the help of so-called “black boxes” attached to servers.

 Black boxes are complex algorithms that Internet providers will be forced to install to flag up a pattern of suspicious behaviour online and are among the most controversial of the bill’s proposals

 A poll published last month showed that nearly two-thirds of French people were in favour of restricting freedoms in the name of fighting extremism.

 Only 32 percent of those surveyed in the CSA poll for the Atlantico news website said they were opposed to freedoms being reduced, although this proportion rose significantly among young people.

 Civil rights activists say the measures are not aimed solely at the prevention of terrorism but also will be used for foreign policy, as well as economic and scientific interests.

 “The French intelligence agencies do not have the budget and financial means of the [USA’s] NSA (National Security Agency), but the logic behind some of the bill’s provisions perfectly mirrors what’s going on in the US and the UK in terms of the very broadly defined regime of international surveillance,” said Tréguer. “The bill is a way for France to retain its rank in the realm of the intelligence superpowers…the bill is a way of continuing the arms race in terms of accumulating new surveillance powers.”

 French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, however, has fiercely defended the bill, saying that to compare it to the mass surveillance "Patriot Act" introduced in the United States after the 9/11 attacks was a "lie".

 He has pointed out that the previous law on wiretapping dates back to 1991, "when there were no mobile phones or Internet," which makes the new bill crucial in the face of extremist threats.

 (FRANCE 24 with AFP)

 Date created : 2015-05-05 ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Hugh Schofield on France's new surveillance rules

 The French parliament has approved a controversial law strengthening the intelligence services, with the aim of preventing Islamist attacks.

 The law on intelligence-gathering, adopted by 438 votes to 86, was drafted after three days of attacks in Paris in January, in which 17 people died.

 The Socialist government says the law is needed to take account of changes in communications technology.

 But critics say it is a dangerous extension of mass surveillance.

 They argue that it gives too much power to the state and threatens the independence of the digital economy.

 Main provisions of the new law:

 Image copyright AFP Image caption The government says it needs better surveillance to combat the terrorist threat

 Define the purposes for which secret intelligence-gathering may be used

 Set up a supervisory body, the National Commission for Control of Intelligence Techniques (CNCTR), with wider rules of operation

 Authorise new methods, such as the bulk collection of metadata via internet providers

 Surveillance law prompts unease in France

 Paris attacks: Three days of terror

 The government says it wants to bring modern surveillance techniques within the law rather than outside any system of control.

 A new watchdog will oversee the intelligence services, which will have broader powers to look at classified material and handle complaints from the public.

 But none of this has satisfied the critics, who range from civil liberties groups to major internet providers.

 Image copyright AP Image caption Protests against the new surveillance measures have been held in Paris

 Their main worry is the way French intelligence agencies will be able to collect massive amounts of metadata from the internet - the detail of communications such as times and places rather than content.

 Critics say this amounts to a mass intrusion of privacy, which in the hands of an unscrupulous government could have worrying consequences.

 Apart from some dissident voices, both the governing Socialists and opposition centre-right were in favour.

 One online advocacy group, La Quadrature du Net, wrote after the vote: "Representatives of the French people have given the Prime Minister the power to undertake massive and limitless surveillance of the population.

 "By doing so, they're ensuring that the power of the state and the basis of our democratic system are getting ever more distant from one another."

 Image copyright AP Image caption Those opposed to the proposed new law say that it will allow the government to keep a record of innocuous conversations

 Analysis by Hugh Schofield, BBC, Paris

 It has been an unusual debate. Many in the Socialist Party who would normally have spoken out against the new powers have instead kept quiet. In the wake of the January attacks, there is little political mileage in raising doubts about the intelligence services.

 Meanwhile on the right, with its clearer law-and-order tradition, most MPs support the Socialist bill. But some are opposed on points of principle. Irony of ironies, some of the harshest criticism has come from the Front National.

 The consensus means that the powerful civil liberties arguments have had little of an airing in the National Assembly. In some sessions there were no more than a handful of deputies in attendance.

 But the opposition from outside the chamber has been vocal. Not necessarily from the public at large (who by and large sympathise with the government's argument) but from rights groups, the press, and Internet companies.

 Surveillance law prompts unease in France |||||

– See if this sounds familiar: A nation reeling from a major terror attack puts into place sweeping new surveillance rules in the name of public safety that critics think violate civil liberties. A measure with the nickname the "French Patriot Act" cleared the lower house of Parliament in France today, reports France24. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it seems likely to pass, reports the New York Times, which provides some specifics: The provisions would let intelligence services "tap cellphones, read emails and force Internet providers to comply with government requests to sift through virtually all of their subscribers’ communications." Advocates insist the monitoring would be directed at suspected terrorists, but critics don't buy it. A nine-person committee set up to oversee the surveillance would have only an advisory role and could not overrule the prime minister. The measure "shows a number of tactics that seem cribbed from the NSA, including bulk collection of internet metadata, which would allow the government to track French citizens from site to site," notes a post at the Verge. The legislation also allows intelligence services to put microphones in a room or on objects to record conversations, and to use other devices to intercept phone conversations and text messages. The French debate follows the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices, and "many in the Socialist Party who would normally have spoken out against the new powers have instead kept quiet," observes the BBC. "In the wake of the January attacks, there is little political mileage in raising doubts about the intelligence services." (In the US, things seem to be moving in the opposite direction.)


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– Two workers at a Chicago day care were fired and arrested after a disturbing incident that left five toddlers injured. Police say surveillance video captured one of the workers burning the 2-year-olds with a hot glue gun while the other woman watched and laughed, People reports. Lizandra Cosme, 32, has been charged with five counts of aggravated battery of a child causing great bodily harm, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Susana Gonzalez, 27, faces five misdemeanor charges of causing the circumstances of child endangerment over the Dec. 1 incident at the Children's Place day care. It's not clear how seriously the children were injured. Prosecutors say Cosme, who brought the glue gun for a Christmas project, was captured on video applying the hot glue directly to the hands and arms of the three girls and two boys. "Each of the child victims winced and some whined at the hot glue gun application," a prosecutor said during a Monday court appearance. Prosecutors said Cosme tried to cover up the incident, asking a father whether his child had been burned at home, ABC7 reports. They said her actions were discovered when one child's mother, an ER physician, saw the burns and demanded to see surveillance footage. Cosme's lawyer said his client "screwed up" but did not mean to hurt the children.

Two daycare workers have been arrested after surveillance footage allegedly captured one of them burning five toddlers with a hot glue gun while the other watched and laughed, police and prosecutors say.

 The Chicago Police Department said Lizandra Cosme, 32, and Susana Gonzalez, 27, face charges after five children were injured at the Children’s Learning Place, where they were working, on Dec. 1.

 Video footage allegedly showed Cosme putting hot glue on the hands and arms of the five 2-year-olds, who appear to grimace in pain as they’re burned, according to ABC 7 Chicago and CBS Chicago. Gonzalez, an assistant at the daycare center, can be seen laughing nearby, the news stations said.

 “Each of the child victims winced and some whined at the hot glue gun application,” a prosecutor said Monday at a court appearance, according to ABC7.

 Cosme was denied bail at the hearing.

 Three girls and two boys were hurt in the incident, police said, but the extent of their injuries is unclear. It is also not immediately known what prompted the burnings, the Chicago Tribune reports.

 During Monday’s hearing, Cosme’s defense attorney said Cosme’s actions were not malicious, according to ABC7. The attorney said Cosme, who has been working with children for a dozen years, “screwed up.”

 Prosecutors said Cosme brought the hot glue gun from home to work on a Christmas project, ABC7 reported. She was watching 16 children at the time of the hot glue gun incident, the news station reported.

 Cosme and Gonzalez could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday. Cosme was arrested Sunday and faces five felony counts of aggravated battery to a child, police said. Her next court appearance is Dec. 26. Gonzalez was charged with five misdemeanor counts of causing the circumstances of endangering a child.

 The Children’s Learning Place is a licensed child-care facility that serves children between the ages of 6 weeks and 6 years, according to its website. There are four locations in Chicago.

 In a statement, Lissa Druss Christman, a spokeswoman for the daycare center, said two workers were “terminated” immediately after the alleged incident. “The well being of our students is paramount,” Christman said.

 The Department of Children and Family Services said it is investigating the incident and did not provide further details. ||||| Lizandra Cosme, 32, of Chicago

 Two women were charged in connection to an incident at a Logan Square daycare in which five toddlers were injured with hot glue.Lizandra Cosme, 32, of Chicago, was arrested Sunday and charged with five counts of aggravated battery of a child under 13 years old causing great bodily harm. A Cook County judge ordered her held without bail on Monday. She is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 26.Cosme allegedly "caused injury" to the five 2-year-old children - three girls and two boys - on Dec. 1 at the Children's Learning Place in the 3100-block of West Fullerton, authorities said.A second woman, Susana D. Gonzalez, 27, of Melrose Park, was charged with five misdemeanor counts of causing the circumstances of child endangerment, police said.In an email, daycare spokeswoman Lissa Druss Christman said: "The well-being of our students is paramount. Upon learning of the alleged incident, we notified DCFS immediately and terminated two of our employees. We are currently working with investigators."The state Department of Children and Family Services is investigating allegations of abuse , an agency spokeswoman said.Cosme brought the glue gun to the daycare to use on a Christmas project, prosecutors said during a hearing in a Cook County court. Cosme, who had 16 children under her care, was captured on surveillance video applying the glue gun directly to the hands and arms of five 2-year-old children. An assistant in the room with her at the time allegedly stood idly by, laughing with Cosme as this was taking place."Each of the child victims winced and some whined at the hot glue gun application," a prosecutor said, adding that Cosme tried to apply neosporin to one of them after she saw circular burn marks starting to appear.Later in the day, in what appears to have been an effort to cover up what had happened, prosecutors said Cosme asked the father of one of the burned children whether the child had been injured at home. Her actions were discovered, they said in court, after the mother of another child, who is an ER physician, noticed the burns and called the daycare director to inquire about what happened, demanding that surveillance footage be reviewed.Cosme's defense attorney said in court his client "screwed up" but did not act out of malice, citing her 12 years working with young children. ||||| 2 women charged after 5 toddlers injured with hot glue at day care

 Two women were charged in connection to an incident at a Palmer Square day care in which five toddlers were injured with hot glue on the Northwest Side.

 Lizandra Cosme, of the Humboldt Park neighborhood, was arrested about 1:30 p.m. Sunday and charged with five counts of aggravated battery of a child under 13 years old causing great bodily harm, according to Chicago Police.

 An investigation found that Cosme “caused injury” to the five 2-year-old children — three girls and two boys — on Dec. 1 at the Children’s Learning Place in the 3100 block of West Fullerton, authorities said. The extent of the children’s injuries was unknown.

 A second woman, 27-year-old Susana D. Gonzalez, was charged with five misdemeanor counts of causing the circumstances of child endangerment, police said. She lives in Melrose Park.

 “The well-being of our students is paramount,” Lissa Druss Christman, a spokeswoman for the daycare, said in an email statement. “Upon learning of the alleged incident, we notified DCFS immediately and terminated two of our employees. We are currently working with investigators.”

 The state Department of Children and Family Services is investigating allegations of abuse by one of the daycare workers, according to an agency spokeswoman.

 Cosme was denied bail at a court appearance Monday, according to Cook County Sheriff’s Office records. She was scheduled to return to court Dec. 26. |||||


Article:
This morning during the NFL’s first game of the day, a bunch of players on both sidelines knelt during the national anthem while other players and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan stood arm-in-arm. This came after two days worth of President Donald Trump’s attacks on NFL players and Colin Kaepernick for protesting racial injustice on the playing field.

 With Trump continuing those attacks this morning via Twitter, former White House advisor and current Fox News contributor Karl Rove pointed out that this issue appears to be a losing one for the president.

 Noting that there are better ways for Trump to address this issue, Rove explained that the president should try to do more to make people want to stand in front of the flag and why they should do it, even if there are “imperfections” in America’s history. He then highlighted why Trump will lose on this issue.

 “We salute the flag, because the struggles and the sacrifices of generations of Americans to make this a better country. That is why we stand and salute our flag and why we put our hand over our heart. He could have come away the winner. Instead, he is walking away from this a loser in the minds of the American people for exactly the reasons you pointed out. He was against the federal government interfering and telling the Washington Redskins what their name should be. Now he is saying fire those people if they do not stand and respect the flag. He ought to be an aspirational figure.”

 More players are expected to take part in protests during this afternoon’s NFL games.

 Watch the clip above, via Fox News.

 [image via screengrab]

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 Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| With the NFL getting an early start this morning due to a game in London, all eyes were turned the league’s way to see how players would react to President Donald Trump’s attacks on NFL players protesting racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem. And as expected, a bunch of players knelt as the Star Spangled Banner played, while other players — and Jacksonville Jaguars’ owner Shad Khan — linked arms in solidarity.

 Following this demonstration, we got a bevy of hot takes on the morning news shows. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee joined in on the action, making it known that he was not a fan of the protests.

 “I wish that some of these players that get on one knee to protest this country and all the sacrifices that make it great would get on both knees and thank God that they live in the United States of American where they make over $2 million on average to play a game for heaven’s sake,” Huckabee told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, who had already made her disdain for the protests known earlier this morning.

 He then complained about how the left is only defending those attacking and disrespecting America and not those who pray for it on the playing field.

 Watch the clip above, via Fox News.

 [image via screengrab]

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 Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| Back in April 2016, then-Bills coach Rex Ryan agreed to introduce then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Buffalo, a decision Ryan now regrets.

 On Friday, during a speech in Alabama, Trump said this about the players who have taken a knee during the national anthem to protest social injustice: "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now," the president said to a cheering crowd. "Out. He's fired. He's fired!"

 On Sunday Ryan, who now serves as a commentator for ESPN, responded:

 "When you look at it, we all grew up in an NFL locker room," Ryan said on the set of "Sunday NFL Countdown," which included former players Randy Moss, Matt Hasselbeck, Charles Woodson and Anquan Boldin, and co-host Sam Ponder. "We don't have those issues, you know what I mean?

 USATSI

 "Everyone's always been united. Yeah, the views are different but lemme tell you: I'm pissed off. I'll be honest with you. Because I supported Donald Trump. When he asked me to introduce him at a rally in Buffalo, I did that. But I'm reading these comments and it's appalling to me and I'm sure it's appalling to almost any citizen in our country. It should be.

 "You know, calling our players SOBs and all that kind of stuff, that's not the men that I know. The men that I know in the locker room I'm proud of. I'm proud to be associated with those people. I apologized for being pissed off but guess what? That's it, because right away I'm associated with what Donald Trump stands for and all that because I introduced him. I never signed up for that, I never wanted that. That doesn't mean I support 100 percent of the things he says."

 In the hours since Trump's remarks, players, teams, team owners, the NFLPA, the league and now former coaches and players-turned TV analysts have all criticized the president for his divisive remarks. |||||Summary:

– Figures from the worlds of politics and sports took to the Sunday talk shows to weigh in on President Trump's call for NFL players who protest during the national anthem to be fired. Steve Mnuchin told ABC's This Week that NFL owners should create a rule forcing players to stand for the anthem and that athletes "can do free speech on their own time," Politico reports. The Treasury secretary said the issue isn't race or free speech but "respect for the military and first responders." “I wish that some of these players that get on one knee to protest this country and all the sacrifices that make it great would get on both knees and thank God that they live in the United States of America," Mediaite quotes Mike Huckabee as saying on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures. The former Arkansas governor said liberals only defend athletes attacking the country, not those praying for it. Karl Rove told Fox News Sunday that Trump should have picked a better battle or at least a better tactic, Mediaite reports. "He could have come away the winner," the former White House adviser said. "Instead, he is walking away from this a loser in the minds of the American people." A better move would have been to be an "aspirational figure" reminding people what's good about the country, Rove said. Rex Ryan, who introduced Trump during a rally last year, said on Sunday NFL Countdown that the president's comments are "appalling." "Lemme tell you: I'm pissed off. I'll be honest with you. Because I supported Donald Trump," CBS Sports quotes the former NFL coach as saying. Ryan said he's proud of the players he's known and they aren't "SOBs." "I'm not sure if our president understands those rights, that every American has the right to speak out and also to protest," Sports Illustrated quotes Terry Bradshaw as saying on Fox NFL Sunday.


Article:
Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News Rasheen Rose died at a Queens state development care facility while being restrained by workers, his family's attorney said.

 A Harlem woman has been hit with a whopping $11.67 million medical bill from a state institution she says killed her mentally disabled brother.

 Shaniece Luke, 39, said her jaw dropped when she received the bill from the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.

 “I thought it was ridiculous. I couldn’t believe it!” Luke told the Daily News Wednesday.

 She and her lawyers contend the astronomical bill is in retaliation for filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the agency and the Queens developmental center where her brother, Rasheen Rose, died in 2012.

 “It has to be,” Luke said. “But they were the ones who killed my brother.”

 The notarized bill, sent to Rose’s estate in March, was for paid Medicaid assistance from August 2002 up to Rose’s death. The state agency is demanding to be paid the staggering amount if Luke prevails in her suit and is awarded punitive damages.

 New York Daily News Shaneice Luke received this bill for $11,672,701.66.

 “The number is mind-boggling. And it becomes more egregious because Rasheen died at the hand of one of their workers,” Luke’s attorney, Aaron DePass, told The News.

 Rose, 33, who was born with severe autism and was never able to communicate verbally, died on Aug. 6, 2012 at the Bernard Fineson Developmental Center in Queens Village.

 The city medical examiner ruled the death a homicide in December 2012, citing evidence that Rose died from injuries caused by being physically restrained.

 Luke’s attorneys said their investigation showed that the 5-foot-7, 175-pound Rose was restrained in a dangerous prone position for up to 30 minutes by three staffers, including a 275-pound worker who sat on him.

 “He was basically crushed to death,” DePass said.

 Mike Groll/AP Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg called it 'retaliation' and 'an outrage' to send the bill to someone who lost a loved one from abusive care.

 Robert Santoriella, Depass’ law partner, said at least nine other staff members, including two doctors and two nurses, were in the room when Rose became unresponsive.

 Citing the pending litigation, the office for People with Developmental Disabilities declined comment.

 Attorney Ilann Maazel said others who have filed lawsuits on behalf of loved ones who have died in state care have received similar bills.

 Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Island) said the bills are clearly meant as retaliation.

 “It’s an outrage,” he said.

 With News Wire Services ||||| ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Two years after a 33-year-old mentally disabled man died at a state institution in Queens, and one year after his sister filed a lawsuit accusing the staff of killing him, New York officials have sent her an $11.67 million bill.

 The claim against Rasheen Rose's estate cited his total Medicaid assistance from Aug. 6, 2002, through Aug. 6, 2012, the day he died.

 A spokeswoman for the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, which runs the center, said Wednesday officials were following federal Medicaid obligations in seeking reimbursement.

 "Not doing so would be a violation and could put federal Medicaid funding at risk," spokeswoman Jennifer O'Sullivan said.

 Medicaid, a state and federal program for the poor, doesn't typically demand reimbursement.

 But Ilann Maazel, an attorney who has filed lawsuits against the state after others died in state care, said other claim notices recently have been sent to families suing.

 "This is something new we're seeing ... and it's problematic," he said Wednesday.

 Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, an advocate for the disabled whose adult son gets state-funded residential care, called it "retaliation" and "an outrage" to send the bill to someone who lost a loved one from abusive care. "They're going to punish these people because they brought it to view of justice," he said.

 The New York medical examiner concluded Rose's death was a homicide and that he "became unresponsive" while being restrained at Fineson Developmental Center. The Queens district attorney's office said it wasn't notified about the death until that homicide ruling was made four months later. Investigators found no criminal conduct but have left the case open, spokesman Kevin Ryan said.

 Shaneice Luke, Rose's sister, is seeking unspecified punitive and other damages in a federal lawsuit. She alleges that at least three staff threw Rose to the ground and one sat on him, while other staff stood by. She also alleges a history of abuse at Fineson and failure by supervisors and the state to address that or to train staff properly.

 "Rasheen Rose did not receive care remotely associated with the amount of money collected by OPWDD for Rasheen Rose over the 10-year period," attorney Aaron DePass replied to the state agency on Luke's behalf. Because he was actually killed by his supposed caregivers, "it is clear that the quality of care he received does not warrant any payment for services whatsoever," he wrote.

 In federal court papers, all seven staff named in the lawsuit denied any wrongdoing, saying they acted within their professional judgment. The state attorney general and private lawyers are defending them.

 Two years ago, a congressional oversight committee reported that New York's residential centers for the developmentally disabled like Fineson, which have largely emptied in an ongoing shift to community-based programs and group homes, cost Medicaid about $1.9 million a year for each patient.

 The Cuomo administration last year announced plans to close four developmental centers over four years, including Fineson in 2017. |||||Summary:

– Rasheen Rose died while being restrained at Fineson Developmental Center, a state institution in Queens, on August 6, 2012—a death that was ruled a homicide by the New York medical examiner, and into which the district attorney's investigation is still open. Shaneice Luke, Rose's sister, filed a lawsuit accusing the staff of killing her brother, who "became unresponsive" after at least three staff members allegedly threw him to the ground and put him in a "prone position" for as long as 30 minutes; one 275-pound worker sat on him, while others, including doctors and nurses, stood by, the New York Daily News reports. Rose, who had severe autism and could not communicate verbally, "was basically crushed to death," says Luke's lawyer. But now, New York officials are billing Luke for $11.67 million, the AP reports. The claim against Rose's estate cites his total Medicaid assistance over a period of 10 years, up until the day he died at age 33. Medicaid doesn't typically demand reimbursement, but an attorney who has worked with others who've received similar bills after suing the state says officials have recently begun this "problematic" practice. A spokesperson for the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, which runs Fineson, says officials are simply following federal Medicaid obligations so that they don't lose their Medicaid funding, but an assemblyman who advocates for people with disabilities calls it "retaliation." Last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to close Fineson in 2017.


Write a summary based on this article:

PARMA, Ohio- Doug 'Deo' Odolecki stood on a street corner Friday night with sign warning drivers about an upcoming drunken-driving checkpoint, but two words on the sign cost him a citation and an upcoming trial.

 The sign, white poster-board with black letters, read: "Check point ahead! Turn now!"

 Parma Police Lt. Brian McCann asked him to remove the part of the sign that told drivers to "turn now" because it was obstructing police business. Odolecki refused and was given a ticket by officer James Manzo, who was involved in a $40,000 police-brutality lawsuit earlier this year.

 McCann and Manzo were out of the office and not available for comment.

 Police must alert residents a week before a drunken-driving checkpoint starts, and a few hours before, the exact location, start and end times must be available to the public.

 A bill pending in the Ohio House of Representatives would make it legal for drivers to warn others of upcoming checkpoints by flashing their headlights.

 Odolecki said McCann and Manzo "tried to be a civil as they could knowing they were violating someone's rights."

 He said he was standing on the sidewalk at the intersection of Brookpark Road and State Road, a half mile away from a drunken-driving checkpoint that was at Tuxedo Avenue and State Road.

 Odolecki, who has a record that includes a disorderly conduct conviction from 2013, said he used the same sign for two years, and officers never had a problem with it until Friday night. He warned drivers about the checkpoint from 9 p.m. until 10 p.m., when McCann approached him about the sign.

 His attorney, John Gold of Sandusky, said he decided to take the case, pro bono, because he supports what Odolecki does.

 "I support the police accountability activist movement," Gold said. "Mr. Odolecki's case is interesting because it's an unsettled area of law and the incident violates civil rights."

 He said if his client was obstructing an investigation or causing a hazardous situation, such as standing in the middle of the road, then the officers would have been justified. However, he said Odolecki was standing on the sidewalk, and there was no active investigation, just a drunken-driving checkpoint.

 "The problem here is not the sign in general. It's the part of the sign that instructed drivers to turn that the officers had an issue with," Gold said. "But I think regardless it's protected speech under the First Amendment."

 Odolecki said he'll be back warning drivers the next time there is a checkpoint.

 Check out the video below for Odolecki's interaction with McCann and Manzo. See 20 seconds to 2:40 and 14:39 to 16 minutes. ||||| Ohio man warns drivers of DUI checkpoint, as police are required to — then they ticketed him

 By Travis Gettys

 Tuesday, June 17, 2014 11:57 EDT

 Police ticketed an Ohio man who warned drivers of a drunken-driving checkpoint – although police departments are required by law to notify the public.

 Doug “Deo” Odolecki stood Friday night on a street corner in Parma with a white poster board marked with black letters reading: “Check point ahead! Turn now!”

 Lt. Brian McCann asked him to remove the portions urging drivers to turn around, reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer, saying it was obstructing police business.

 But Odolecki refused, and he was issued a ticket by Officer James Manzo – who was involved earlier this year in a $40,000 police brutality lawsuit.

 Odolecki said he’s used the same sign for two years without incident, and he said Manzo and McCann “tried to be a civil as they could knowing they were violating someone’s rights.”

 His attorney said he decided to take the case because he supports the police accountability activist movement.

 “The problem here is not the sign in general,” said attorney John Gold. “It’s the part of the sign that instructed drivers to turn that the officers had an issue with. But I think regardless it’s protected speech under the First Amendment.”

 Gold said the citation would have been justified if Odolecki were obstructing an investigation or presenting a safety hazard, but he said his client was standing on a sidewalk and there was no active investigation – just a drunken-driving checkpoint.

 Ohio law requires police officers to alert the public a week before setting up drunken-driving checkpoints, and the exact location, start time, and end times must be made available a few hours before.

 A bill is pending in the state House of Representatives to allow drivers to legally warn others of upcoming checkpoints by flashing their headlights.

 Watch video of the incident posted online by greaterclevelandcopblock: |||||

– An Ohio man warning drivers about a looming DUI checkpoint would have avoided a ticket if not for the last two words on his sign, reports Raw Story. "Turn now!" Doug "Deo" Odolecki got the citation Friday night while standing on a street corner with his sign that began, "Check point ahead!" Police, who are obligated to make such checkpoints public in Ohio, were OK with the sign in general but told Odolecki to remove the advice to "turn now," reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. When he refused, officers gave him the ticket on the grounds that he was obstructing police business. (Ohio is poised to let drivers flash their lights at one another to warn of police, and judges elsewhere in the country have blessed that move in the name of free speech.)


Article:
In this undated photo provided by Maritime New Zealand, the yacht Nina is tied at dock at a unidentified location. Searchers said Thursday, June 27, 2013, they have grave concerns for seven people aboard... (Associated Press)

 A New Zealand meteorologist took the last known calls from the seven people aboard an American schooner, "The weather's turned nasty, how do we get away from it?"

 The phone calls and texts ended June 4. More than three weeks later, searchers said Thursday they have grave concerns for the crew on the classic 85-year-old wooden vessel that went missing while sailing from New Zealand to Australia. Attempts to contact the crew by radio and an aerial search this week have proved fruitless.

 Authorities say the skipper of the 70-foot (21-meter) vessel Nina is American David Dyche. They say there are two other American men and three American women aboard, aged between 17 and 73. Also aboard is a British man, aged 35.

 Messages posted online by friends indicate the boat originally left from Panama City, Florida.

 Meteorologist Bob McDavitt said he took a satellite phone call from the boat June 3. A woman named Evi asked how to get away from the weather. He said to call back in 30 minutes after he'd studied a forecast. She did.

 "She was quite controlled in her voice, it sounded like everything was under control," McDavitt said, adding that the call itself indicated she was concerned about the conditions.

 McDavitt said he spoke only briefly to Evi, advising her to head south and to brace for a storm with strong winds and high seas. The next day he got a text, the last known communication from the boat: "ANY UPDATE 4 NINA? ... EVI"

 McDavitt said he advised the crew to stay put and ride out the storm another day. He continued sending messages the next few days but didn't hear back. Friends of the crew got in touch with McDavitt soon after that, and then alerted authorities June 14.

 Kevin Banaghan, who is spearheading search efforts by Maritime New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre, said rescuers weren't worried at first because there had been no distress call from the boat and its emergency locator beacon had not been activated. He said rescuers on June 14 initiated a communications search, in which they tried contacting the boat over various radio frequencies as well as contacting other vessels in the area to see if they'd spotted the Nina.

 This week, he said, rescuers escalated their efforts. An Air Force plane on Tuesday searched the area where the boat went missing. A second search by the plane on Wednesday went as far as the Australian coast but again turned up nothing. Banaghan said searchers are considering their next options.

 The boat left the Bay of Islands in northern New Zealand on May 29 bound for the port of Newcastle, near Sydney. The last communication was from 370 nautical miles west of New Zealand.

 Banaghan said the crew hoped to arrive in Australia mid-June but that, given the conditions, he considered a realistic arrival date to be about June 25. He said Dyche is a qualified captain and the crew has varying degrees of experience.

 "We're very concerned for their safety and wellbeing," he said.

 Authorities say the storm three weeks ago saw winds gusting up to 110 kilometers (68 miles) per hour and waves of up to 8 meters (26 feet).

 Banaghan said the Nina is a "lovely old craft" which won races when it was new and had been maintained in excellent condition. He added that it had a new engine installed in recent months which had apparently created some initial leaking problems.

 He said there are several possible scenarios, including the boat losing communications, drifting off course, or the crew taking to lifeboats. He said there's also a possibility the boat suffered a catastrophic failure and sank before anybody had time to react. ||||| Story highlights The Nina has given off no signs of life since early June

 The racing schooner built in 1928 had seven passengers on board

 Six Americans and one Briton are missing

 The ship is equipped with modern tracking and communications devices

 A historic racing sailboat and its crew of seven, including six Americans, have apparently vanished on the high seas.

 A wooden schooner built in 1928, the Nina, left port in northern New Zealand at the end of May and dropped out of communication a week later, a maritime safety authority said Thursday.

 It was en route to Newcastle, Australia.

 The sailing yacht is equipped with a tracking device, a satellite phone and an emergency buoy, but none of them have been heard from since early June, according to Maritime New Zealand.

 At the time of its last sign of life, the Nina was nearly 400 miles northwest of New Zealand in the Tasman Sea.

 Family members alerted maritime authorities in New Zealand in mid-June that the sailboat may be missing. Rescuers issued alerts to vessels in the area. None reported having seen the Nina.

 Two extensive sweeps by a reconnaissance plane came up empty.

 The Nina was carrying one British passenger along with the six Americans.

 Shipwreck survivor recounts drama on high seas

 Wisdom from the sea: 'React fast or be swept away' |||||Summary:

– Six Americans and a Brit have vanished without a trace on the high seas between New Zealand and Australia, aboard the 70-foot vessel the Nina, CNN reports.The crew was last heard from on June 4 while battling rough conditions—68mph gusts and waves as high as 26 feet—about a week after their historic schooner left New Zealand's Bay of Islands. Friends reported the vessel missing on June 14, and the fact that its emergency beacon was never activated gave rescuers hope. But the picture that's forming of the Nina's last known movements sounds less promising. A woman aboard the 85-year-old vessel called a New Zealand meteorologist via satellite phone on June 3, asking him, "The weather's turned nasty, how do we get away from it?" They spoke briefly, with Bob McDavitt advising the group to sail south. The following day he received the following text: "ANY UPDATE 4 NINA? ... EVI." After that, the boat vanished, with two aerial searches turning up nothing. More foreboding details, per the AP: The rescue coordinator says the boat realistically should have arrived in Australia two days ago, and the Nina dealt with some leaking issues earlier this year after a new engine was installed. He expressed "grave concerns" to the Age.