News article:

Jeb Bush, who entered Tuesday night’s GOP debate with the most on the line, rose to the occasion and turned in his strongest debate performance to date, but it was Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz who again outshined their rivals.

 While Bush's ability to find his footing on the primetime stage should reassure nervous donors, it’s unlikely to fundamentally change his position in the broader field—a B grade, after all, only brings an F up to a D.

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 Rubio and Cruz, now viewed as the two strongest candidates, ceded no ground, exploiting a much softer debate format in Milwaukee and again showcasing their mastery of the facts and ease under the bright lights.

 Donald Trump also roared back to his caustic, combative form. But Ben Carson turned in his shakiest performance yet, struggling with a debate that focused more on substantive policy questions and taking up the least amount of speaking time despite his position in the center of the stage.

 The two-hour debate, marked by a smattering of sharp exchanges but fewer fireworks than the three previous showdowns, is unlikely to dramatically alter the race as it now stands—and the status quo may hold through the end of the year, with the next GOP debate 35 days away and the month of December effectively a dead zone for campaign fundraising.

 Many of the spats that generated heat on stage Tuesday night were familiar ones—illustrative of the broader ideological divisions within the GOP.

 The first focused on immigration, with Trump and Cruz on one side opposite John Kasich and Bush, both desperate for air time given their standing behind the current front-runners and eagerly blasting Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.

 "It’s a silly argument. It’s not an adult argument. We all know you can’t pick them up and ship them back across the border,” said Kasich, paving a path for Bush to follow.

 Trump responded by taking a dig at the Ohio governor and his state's economic recovery. "You’re lucky in Ohio that you struck oil," he said.

 As the tussle escalated and Kasich started talking over him, Trump interjected, saying "I don't have to hear from this man." As Kasich looked to cut in again, Trump suggested he "let Jeb speak."

 Bush followed by mockingly thanking Trump for "allowing me to speak at the debate." He also chided Trump for the mass deportation proposal, calling it "impossible."

 “It’s not embracing American values, and it would tear communities apart,” Bush said about Trump’s plan. “And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal. They’re doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign when they hear this … the way you win the presidency is you have practical plans.”

 Cruz followed with a defense of Trump’s position, asserting “it’s not anti-immigrant,” and landing a repeat of his well-received attack on the media.

 “I understand when the mainstream media covers immigration, it often doesn’t see it as an economic issue, but I can tell you for millions of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue,” Cruz said. “I would say the politics of it would be very, very, different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande — or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press.”

 Rubio, the author of the failed comprehensive immigration reform package that passed the Senate in 2013 but failed in the House for lack of support from grassroots conservatives, stayed out of the fray.

 Rubio did land his own memorable moment when he tangled with Rand Paul, who criticized his proposals to increase military spending.

 “I know that Rand is a committed isolationist,” Rubio said, dismissively. “I know that the world is a safer and a better place when the United States is the strongest country in the world.”

 "Marco, Marco, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure to the federal government?” Paul shot back. “You cannot be a conservative if you’re going to keep promoting new programs that you’re not going to pay for. I want a strong national defense, but I don’t want us to be bankrupt.”

 “You think defending this nation is expensive," Cruz chimed in. "Try not defending it."

 Bush, desperate to improve on his disastrous performance in last month’s third GOP debate in Boulder, Colo., steadied himself with his response on immigration after showing some edginess early on.

 Bush entered Tuesday night’s fourth GOP debate vowing to stop following the moderators’ rules and dead set on making his voice heard.

 But in a major shift from the first three debates that quickly devolved into freewheeling slugfests, the five candidates who got questions before Bush did at the outset of the two-hour debate in Milwaukee were suddenly playing by the rules.

 When Kasich, despite ranking behind Bush in the national polling, offered a lengthy answer to his first question and then threatened to interject after Cruz’s opening statement, an antsy Bush jumped in.

 "I got about four minutes last debate, I'm gonna get my question,” Bush said.

 “I appreciate it, Jeb,” Kasich shot back. “I’m all for you.”

 Bush got his footing as the debate progressed, attacking Trump for his assertion that the U.S. cannot be the world's policemen. "Donald is wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this," Bush said. "We are not going to be the world’s policemen but we sure as hell better be the world’s leader."

 “That’s like a board game. That’s like playing Monopoly or something," said Bush, who seemingly meant to refer to the game Risk, not Monopoly.

 Twelve days after his rehearsed attack on Rubio backfired so spectacularly, Bush opted not to attack or engage Rubio at all.

 Carson, who now sits atop some national polls, struggled on a foreign policy question about how he would combat ISIS in the Middle East.

 “We have to say, how do we make them look like losers? And I think the way to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate,” Carson said, seemingly arguing for ground forces to remove ISIS from Iraq.

 “Take that from them, take that land from them, we could do that fairly easily,” he said.

 Carson also addressed the recent scrutiny of a number of his anecdotal biographical claims, again criticizing the media for portraying him unfairly.

 “The fact of the matter is, we should vet all candidates,” Carson said early in the debate. “What I do have a problem with is being lied about and putting that out there as truth. I don’t even mind that so much if they do that with everybody … when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no this was a terrorist attack and tells everybody else it was a video, where I come from, they call that a lie.

 “I think that’s very different from somebody misinterpreting when I said I was offered a scholarship to West Point,” he continued. “People who know me know that I’m a honest person.”

  ||||| GOP presidential candidates clashed over immigration, government spending and how to handle Russia's Vladimir Putin during Tuesday night's debate. As the night got heated, the audience got involved: here are the must-watch moments. (Ashleigh Joplin and Rebecca Schatz/Fox Business Network)

 The eight top Republican presidential candidates gathered for the fourth debate of the 2016 campaign Tuesday night in Milwaukee. It was a more understated affair than the last GOP debate sponsored by CNBC but still managed to yield some bests and worsts.

 Here are my winners and losers from the night that was:

 Winners

 * Marco Rubio: Rubio's line about welders making more money than philosophy majors will be quoted all over the place in the post-debate analysis. (And, no, it wasn't totally accurate.) Rubio knocked it out of the park when debating military spending and the right role for America in the world with Rand Paul. He got a meatball of a question when asked by the moderators about Hillary Clinton's résumé as compared with his own; he, unsurprisingly, answered it well and easily. Time and time again, he oozed knowledge while appearing entirely relaxed. One nit to pick with Rubio: He can — and did at times Tuesday night — come across as slightly too rehearsed, the student reciting things back to the teacher from memory but without actually understanding what any of it means.

 * Ted Cruz: For the second straight debate, the senator from Texas shone under the bright lights. His line about the tax code having more words than the Bible was a good and memorable one. His repeated denunciations of Washington's "crony" culture will leave a lot of Republican heads nodding in agreement. Cruz proved Tuesday night that of the "outsider" candidates, he is the one best equipped to carry their message going forward.

 * Ben Carson: In the first three debates, I watched in wonder as Carson's numbers kept moving up after what I perceived to be nearly nonexistent performances. But Carson — from his first answer on Tuesday night — was more energetic (that's a pretty low bar given Carson's past performances) and more dialed in than I had seen him. He was helped by a moderator question on his past exaggerations/inaccuracies regarding his life story that would give the term "softball" a bad name. And by the fact that none of his rivals seemed interested in taking the fight to him on the issue of the inconsistencies of his recounting of the past. Carson was, as usual, very shaky on foreign policy and wasn't much better on regulatory reform. But he did more than enough to keep himself at or near the top of the GOP field.

 * Carly Fiorina: Like Cruz and Rubio, Fiorina proved something Tuesday night that we already knew: She's an able debater. She inserted herself into a variety of discussions — foreign policy, taxes — where she left a positive mark. It also helped that the audience in the room in Milwaukee seemed very much on her side. I still think Fiorina, like Rubio, can come across as too rote at times.

 * Rand Paul: The senator from Kentucky (finally) found ways to get his voice heard in a debate. The problem for him is that he's almost certainly too far down in polling — and in the money chase — for it to matter much. Still, Paul found a platform to voice his unique views on foreign and fiscal policy, and, at this stage of his candidacy, that amounts to a win.

 Losers

 * Donald Trump: Trump, as he has in each of the first four debates, stood center stage in Milwaukee on Tuesday night. But for the two-plus hours that the debate ran, Trump felt ancillary to the conversation. When he did get time to speak, he simply repeated his now-familiar lines — we don't win anymore, I have a great company, etc. — and little else. His answers on foreign policy were not good. His random attack on Fiorina — "why does she keep interrupting everybody?" — earned him boos from the crowd (and helped her). Trump just didn't seem all that interested in being there. It likely won't affect his poll numbers, since nothing seems to. But that doesn't change the fact he was off his game.

 * John Kasich: The Ohio governor came out with a strategy to install himself right in the center of the debate. To do that, he interrupted, cajoled and pouted his way through it. His positions on immigration and on Wall Street banks won't win him any support from the GOP base (he got booed for his Wall Street answer). But it wasn't really about policy. Kasich seemed peevish, short-tempered and anything but presidential.

 * Jeb Bush: Look, the former Florida governor wasn't bad in this debate. In fact, he was far better than the lifeless showing he put in last month. But he wasn't good enough. Jeb's first answer — pledging to repeal all of Obama's executive orders — was forceful and quite good. But as the debate wore on, Bush repeatedly missed chances to jump into conversations — a long back-and-forth involving multiple candidates over taxes jumps to mind — and when he did speak he was somewhat halting and awkward. The Bush people readily acknowledge that debating is not his strong suit. And I readily acknowledge that being a good debater doesn't guarantee victory. But Bush just isn't comfortable on the debate stage — and it shows.

 * Anecdotes: Virtually every candidate took a question about broad fiscal policy and turned it into a heartwarming/heart-wrenching tale of "Jim and Aileen Jones from random city in random state." I know candidates and their staffs believe these anecdotes bolster the idea that they are out meeting regular people and not sitting in the halls of Washington — wherever those are — opining on stuff. But the anecdotes come across more often than not as trite and cliched rather than revealing and powerful. Let's just stop doing it! Okay? Good. It's a deal.

 * Debate format: The Fox Business moderators went out of their way to make clear that they, unlike the unmentioned but ever-present CNBC moderators, would be sticking to substantive economic issues in the debate. Then they went out of their way to praise themselves for doing so. Fine. But the debate was largely lifeless throughout, and the lack of candidate exchanges — whether because of the rules of the debate or a simple unwillingness to engage — meant that many of the answers offered were straight from oft-repeated talking points. I don't think that serves the voters' interests — at all. ||||| Milwaukee — It was, at last, a debate about policy. If the emergence of Donald Trump and the efforts of previous debate moderators to pit candidates against each other have forestalled the policy arguments that typically characterize Republican primary contests, Fox Business Network’s debate on Tuesday brought them to the fore.

 Less than three months before voters go to the polls in January, the candidates clashed on some of the major issues that have divided the Republican party over the past six years: The night’s big moments did not come from one candidate trashing another, but from policy exchanges, first on immigration and then on defense spending. After months of headlines dominated by a real-estate mogul-cum-reality-television star, it was a welcome change of pace.

 The event was steady and studious, and the upshot was predictable — an evening that did little to alter the trajectories of individual candidates or the broader narrative of the race. In the course of two hours there were no knockout punches, no major gaffes, no made-for-opposition-research moments. Each of the candidates went silent for a stretch, but none completely disappeared as in previous debates — perhaps because the stage had shrunk to only eight, the smallest primetime grouping to date.

 If a single issue can be said to have encapsulated the bitter divisions within the Republican party over the past six years, it is immigration, and the key disagreements between the candidates — over border security, legal immigration, and amnesty — came to the fore during Tuesday’s debate.

 RELATED: Ted Cruz Wins the Night

 It was Donald Trump, predictably, who started it all. Heaping praise on court rulings that struck down President Obama’s executive action on immigration, he reiterated his intention to build a wall on the Southern border. “We will have a wall, the wall will be built, the wall will be successful,” he said. “And if you don’t think walls work, just ask Israel.”

 John Kasich, the prickly Ohio governor standing three podiums away, denounced Trump’s plan as “a silly argument” that “makes no sense,” earning notably louder applause than Trump had.

 RELATED: Winners & Losers

 Enter Jeb Bush, who rebuked his fellow Republicans for having a conversation about deporting illegal immigrants in the first place. Hillary Clinton’s campaign, he said, was trading “high-fives” over the terrible optics.

 The event was steady and studious, and the upshot was predictable — an evening that did little to alter the trajectories of individual candidates.

 “That’s the problem with this,” Bush said. “We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans.” He advocated allowing illegal immigrants to earn legal status after paying fines. “That’s the proper path to making this work,” he said.

 The crowd again erupted in applause, seemingly handing the exchange to Bush and Kasich rather than to Trump. Bush was desperately in need of a standout performance after being bulldozed by Marco Rubio at last month’s Colorado debate, and this was perhaps the high point of his evening. As the debate wore on, he seemed to once again disappear for long stretches.

 Ted Cruz, ignoring the crowd’s enthusiasm for Bush’s and Kasich’s more moderate immigration stances, then chimed in with the last word on the issue. “If Republicans join Democrats in granting amnesty, we will lose,” he said bluntly. He went on to argue that Republicans could embrace both legal immigration and the rule of law. It wasn’t a hit with the audience in the debate hall, but will play well with Cruz’s grassroots base.

 Marco Rubio, whose introduction met with louder applause than any of his rivals’, once again played a starring role Tuesday night. Two weeks after slapping down Bush in a memorable exchange, the Florida senator was involved in another explosive back-and-forth with Rand Paul, the field’s most vocal champion of so-called “non-interventionism.” Rubio is perhaps its most visible proponent of a more muscular foreign policy.

 Paul charged that Rubio’s call to increase defense spending is “not very conservative.”

 Among Republican primary voters, Rubio knew he was on strong footing, and he pushed back. “I know that Rand is a committed isolationist,” he said, using a term that the Kentucky senator has openly bristled at. Indeed, when Paul laid out his foreign-policy platform a year ago, he declared explicitly that he was “not an isolationist.”

 Paul was unfazed. “Marco, Marco, Marco,” he said. “How is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures?”

 “We can’t even have an economy if we’re not safe,” Rubio replied. “There are radical jihadists in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon. The Chinese taking over the South China Sea. Yes, I believe the world is a safer and better place when America is the strongest military power in the world.”

 It was the biggest applause line of the night, but Paul would not be deterred. “Marco, I don’t think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further and further into debt, we are less and less safe. This is the most important thing we’re gonna talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative and be for unlimited military spending?”

 Cruz jumped in to position himself between his two colleagues, calling for a “middle ground” in the debate — as he has in the Senate, where he’s said his views fall somewhere between those of Rand Paul and John McCain. But he was clearly closer to McCain’s end of the spectrum on Tuesday — or in this case, to Rubio’s. “You think defending this nation is expensive? Try not defending it. That’s a lot more expensive,” Cruz said, winning thunderous applause.

 The debate over defense spending and America’s role in the world has roiled the GOP in the years since Barack Obama was elected in 2008 partly on the basis of his promises to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Paul’s election in 2010 gave non-interventionism a spokesman on the Republican side, and he rose to national prominence in large part by articulating his view that the United States should play a more restrained role in world affairs. Rubio was elected in 2010 too, and he has served as the leading spokesman of the opposing view, that strengthening and maintaining America’s role as a beacon of freedom abroad is essential to security at home.

 On Tuesday, millions of Republican primary voters had the chance to see that debate and others play out in real time, and to make up their own minds. The reality that the night seemed not to move the needle in any significant direction was apparent from the tone and body language of campaign officials. No one had anything but praise for the moderators. Everyone took to the spin room looking pleased and relaxed if not especially triumphant or dejected, all of them satisfied with their candidate’s performance but none claiming a game-changing moment. Milwaukee produced no consensus loser in the eyes of the campaigns and media, no brewing speculation of anyone dropping out in the days ahead — just talk of soldiering on and bracing for a long, incremental slog to a nominating season that begins Feb. 1 in Iowa.

 — Eliana Johnson is Washington editor of National Review. Tim Alberta is chief political correspondent for National Review. ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| “That,” he added, as the crowd erupted into applause, “is not how the real world works.”

 On Tuesday night, Mr. Bush, whose chronic struggles on the debate stage have unnerved his supporters and dragged down his standing in the polls, was a feistier and more assertive combatant, demanding more time from moderators, offering flashes of improvised humor and delivering crisper answers than he has in the past.

 Whether it will be enough to turn around his flagging campaign is uncertain: Mr. Bush has a well-documented gift for gaffes and his creaky candidacy feels out of sync with the furious mood of the electorate.

 But on Tuesday, unlike in earlier debates, he no longer seemed as desperate to be somewhere else.

 In fact, he pleaded for more questions.

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 When Gov. John Kasich of Ohio tried to horn in on an inquiry directed at Mr. Bush, the former governor of Florida cut him off.

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 “You’ve already made two comments, John,’’ he said. “It’s my turn.”

 Mr. Bush had stood by as rivals talked over him during the last Republican debate, a decision he regretted. But in intensive practice sessions in the weeks since, he had focused on squeezing out every last minute of time on camera.

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 “I got about four minutes in the last debate,” he said at one point on Tuesday night. “I’m going to get my question right now.”

 Under intense pressure, after apologizing for his poor showings in the past, Mr. Bush hired a debate guru to refine his performance style. The changes were sometimes obvious. His gestures were less jangling. His answers were more concrete. He seemed, at times, more commanding.

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 Of course, it was not a total success — and Mr. Bush, the 62-year-old scion of an American political dynasty, did not entirely rid himself of awkward behaviors.

 There were clenched smiles, obscure geographical references and hands that reflexively darted into his pockets. And after aggressively demanding that Mr. Kasich yield, Mr. Bush suffered a temporary setback: The Ohio governor talked over him anyway, at least temporarily.

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 But in contrast to previous debates, Mr. Bush generated a handful of memorable lines and moments, and seemed less daunted by Mr. Trump, the resident bully in each of the party’s confrontations so far.

 At one point, Mr. Bush tartly thanked Mr. Trump for allowing him a chance to participate in a verbal rumpus.

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 “Thank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate,” he said. “That’s really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are.”

 He repeatedly mocked Mr. Trump for what he said were pie-in-the-sky policy plans that could not possibly work and would play into Democratic plans to cast Republicans as the enemy of minority voters. After Mr. Trump reiterated his support for deporting 11 million illegal immigrants, Mr. Bush looked exasperated.

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 “They’re doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now,” he said. “The way you win the presidency is to have practical plans.”

 Mr. Bush swallowed his long-held distaste for sound bites and managed to fire off a few of them. Asked which regulations he would cut to improve the economy, Mr. Bush pivoted, turning instead to a claim by Hillary Rodham Clinton that President Obama’s economic record should earn an A grade. He then lobbed a practiced-sounding barb.

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 “Really?” Mr. Bush asked. He ticked off a series of grim figures and wondered how Mrs. Clinton could say they were worthy of such a high grade.

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 “It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do,” Mr. Bush said, “but it’s not the best America can do.”

 As improved as Mr. Bush seemed, he still lacked the virtuoso skills and camera-ready ease of Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida. Mr. Bush reluctantly hired a debate coach last month, turning to a trusted family image maker, Jon Kraushar, who had polished the speaking skills of Mr. Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush, who suffered from his own lapses in syntax.

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 During sessions held in Miami and Milwaukee, Mr. Kraushar and Mr. Bush’s aides counseled him to talk about real people and aim his fire at Mrs. Clinton, after an attempt to joust with Mr. Rubio badly backfired. And Mr. Bush vowed to embrace a philosophy long practiced by his more agile peers: Answer the question you want, not the one you were asked.

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 Moments after the debate, Mr. Bush’s top aides seemed palpably relieved that they would not, at least for a night, have to make excuses for him again.

 In a midnight conference call with donors, Sally Bradshaw, a longtime Bush adviser, summed up the sentiment.

 “Gosh, what a difference a week makes,” she said. ||||| Jeb Bush, left, speaks as Marco Rubio listens during Republican presidential debate at Milwaukee Theatre. | AP Photo Jeb Bush stops the bleeding His supporters say they were reassured by his performance.

 MILWAUKEE — Jeb Bush didn’t try to beat Marco Rubio. He set a lower bar: shooting to best his own panned debate performances. And he succeeded on Tuesday, as top supporters declared a solid, mistake-free night in Milwaukee enough to wrap a “tourniquet” on a campaign that had been bleeding since the last debate two weeks ago.

 “There’s always nervous Nellies in every campaign,” said former Sen. Mel Martinez, a Bush supporter spinning for the campaign in Milwaukee. “If they needed it, tonight certainly should have reassured them.”

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 “Thank God. He stopped the bleeding tonight,” added Ana Navarro, a Bush friend and adviser. “This can be the start of a turnaround if he builds on this solid performance.”

 While Bush avoided any reprises of his failed confrontation with Rubio, he did come out the gate fiery. His first words were trying to get in his first words. “I got about four minutes in the last debate,” he interrupted early on. “I'm going to get my question — right now.”

 After the previous debate, Bush’s donors urged him to back away from going on offense against Rubio. Some, most notably prominent Florida bundler Brian Ballard, have gone so far as to switch sides to back Rubio in recent days. The discussion of how to take on the candidate whom Bush’s orbit still believes is the biggest threat to his nomination took on added urgency after a report that Bush’s super PAC is considering a $20 million anti-Rubio campaign.

 “There are donors in Florida who want to see peace in the valley, and rightfully so,” said Al Cardenas, a Florida Republican and Bush backer who is also close with Rubio, “and at the same time you’re in the midst of a competitive campaign.”

 There were no interactions between the two men on Tuesday night — an indication, Rubio’s advisers argued, that Bush had learned that a battle with the senator was one it couldn’t win.

 “The phrase where I come from is ‘There’s no education in the second kick of a mule,’” Terry Sullivan, Rubio’s campaign manager, said after the debate. “I kind of feel like folks figured out that taking on Marco isn’t such a great idea. … I don’t think anyone is itching to take on Marco on the debate stage.”

 Bush instead took aim at Hillary Clinton and presented himself as a viable general-election candidate. At one point, he scolded his fellow Republicans when talk turned to deportations. “Even having this conversation sends a powerful signal — they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this,” Bush said.

 From Day One of his campaign, Bush has suffered from high expectations — that he would dominate the pursuit of donors, that he would blow away the field, that he would push away others in the field. Few have panned out.

 In the two weeks after his disastrous Boulder performance, Bush worked to lower expectations heading into Milwaukee. At numerous campaign stops, in media interviews and on donor calls, Bush went out of his way to say that he’s not a great debater and that he recognizes he needs to improve. It was an intentional effort, aides said, to lower expectations.

 Bush’s top aides even got in on the action. On a conference call with New York donors last week, campaign manager Danny Diaz said that Bush had been working with a new debate coach, longtime Republican image guru Jon Kraushar, and that his supporters should expect an improved performance. It was a subtle play to calm nerves, while simultaneously diminishing anticipation that the former Florida governor — never stellar on the debate stage — was headed for a breakout performance.

 Those close to Bush say he spent time after the Boulder debacle working on optics — including his posture. In the first three debates, Bush — who hadn't waged a campaign since 2002 and showed signs of rust — tended to slouch. And he brought on Kraushar, a longtime adviser to Fox News honcho Roger Ailes, who specializes in helping his clients forge a connection with TV viewers.

 Bush certainly looked more confident as he challenged Trump on his foreign policy. “Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader.”

 Awkward Bush, however, didn’t disappear entirely. “I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was — get the — kind of the,” he said, gesturing in hopes that the audience would laugh at his double-Washington wordplay. “Anyway,” he relented as they didn’t.

 For all the talk of a Bush campaign crashing out early, he’s planning for the long road ahead — and doing the donor maintenance involved. This week, his top advisers sent out invitations to top donors for a December campaign update in Miami.

 “Jeb will show you the Miami he loves and tell you, in his own words, ‘how we are going to win this damn thing!’” read the invitation to donors from Bush finance chief Heather Larrison.

 Following the debate, Bush has a breakneck pace. He'll be heading to Iowa for three events on Wednesday, going to Michigan for a quick fundraiser on Thursday and continuing on for two days of events in New Hampshire before flying to Florida for a big cattle call in his home state.

 “I don’t know that you fix all the problems with one debate,” said Martinez. “This is an ongoing deal. This is going to be a long race. He’s in it for the long haul. He’s weathered some difficult days. That showed you something about his character, about who he is and what he’s made of.”

 Rubio’s team was less circumspect. “We won. Again,” Sullivan declared. “4-0.” ||||| The fourth Republican presidential debate on Tuesday night was a less dramatic, more substantive affair than the previous three clashes of the 2016 cycle. Who shone and who wilted under the lights in Milwaukee?

 WINNERS

 Sens. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioNauert faces questions about qualifications at UN The Memo: Trump puts isolationism at center stage Trump's military moves accelerate GOP search for next McCain MORE (Fla.) and Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzWhat a year it’s been: A month-by-month look back at 2018's biggest stories O'Rourke rips Trump's border wall in video: 'A symbol of division' Bloomberg ready to spend at least 0M if he runs for White House in 2020 MORE (Texas)

 On a night without a single standout moment, the polish and poise of the two senators were valuable assets.

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 Rubio is probably the most charismatic figure in this year’s GOP field among those who hold public office. Some of his best moments Tuesday night were on very different topics, including college education and foreign policy.

 In the debate’s closing stages, he displayed a light touch when moderator Maria Bartiromo delivered a lengthy and positive summary of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillary Clinton says goodbye to 2018: 'A dark time for our country' 2019 forecast: Chaos with a chance of progress What a year it’s been: A month-by-month look back at 2018's biggest stories MORE’s resumé, to the consternation of the Republican crowd. Before going on to answer how someone with his relative lack of experience could compete with Clinton, Rubio merely laughed and said wryly that Bartiromo had asked a "great question."

 Cruz had delivered an especially strong performance at the previous debate, in Boulder, Colo., on Oct 28, and he kept the momentum going here. His responses on entitlement reform and the need to avoid bailing out the financial system again were fluent and clear.

 Cruz did have an uncharacteristic misstep when, having stated he would get rid of five government agencies, he in fact named only four. Cruz cited the Department of Commerce twice, but his stumble was immeasurably less damaging than then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s infamous “oops” moment, on the same subject, in 2012.

 Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulRand Paul's Festivus 'grievances' include comparing Lindsey Graham to Senator Palpatine Santorum: Trump base might not back Syria pullout Coons: Trump handing a ‘great big Christmas gift’ to Russia and Iran with Syria withdrawal MORE (Ky.)

 Paul has seemed at best a marginal figure in previous debates, but he came alive in Milwaukee. He hit early on his distrust of the Federal Reserve, an article of faith for the libertarians who backed the presidential bids of his father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

 He also went after Rubio on the Floridian’s plans for an increased tax credit and then expanded that critique to attack his proposals to increase military spending as well. That clash had no clear winner, but Paul held his own. His strong performance will hardly transform him into a front-runner, but the improvement from his previous showings was notable nonetheless.

 Fox Business Network

 The debate hosts were always likely to avoid the fate of CNBC, which drew heavy criticism after the Colorado debate, with moderators accused of asking “gotcha” questions and adopting a generally querulous tone. By contrast, Tuesday’s debate was smoothly run and substantive, with the three moderators being neither spineless nor gratuitously rude. The ratings have yet to be revealed, but Fox Business will surely win critical praise for how it ran the show.

 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

 After Fox Business decided that only eight contenders would be present on the main stage Tuesday, Christie found himself confined to the undercard debate. If that hurt his pride, it didn’t show. The New Jersey governor was clearly the best performer of the four candidates in the earlier clash, the others being Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.). In particular, Christie turned Jindal’s attacks on his conservative credentials to his advantage, positioning himself as a would-be uniter of the party and Jindal as a petty divider.

 MIXED

 Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush

 This was Bush’s best performance in any of the debates so far. Unfortunately for him, that’s a rather low bar.

 He did get two effective lines in early, both of which alluded to Clinton. One mocked her sunny assessment of President Obama’s economic record. The other was his insistence that Clinton’s campaign would be “doing high-fives...right now” after listening to Donald Trump Donald John TrumpTrump: 'No choice' on continuing government shutdown Syrian troop withdraw will take four months: report Kim Jong Un: North Korea may 'seek a new path' if US doesn't negotiate MORE restate his hard line on illegal immigration.

 But there were two big problems for Bush. His performance was marginal for much of the debate — 18 minutes passed at the start before he was asked a question, something he pointed out in a display of assertiveness not seen in the previous debates — and there was no outstanding moment that seemed likely to reinvigorate his ailing campaign.

 Retired surgeon Ben Carson

 Carson’s low-wattage style has both fans and detractors, but he is clearly sticking with it. His best moment in the debate came early on when he wryly deflected a question about the media coverage he has received in recent weeks. But Carson can also come across as meandering. Additionally, he ruled out raising the minimum wage despite having indicated in May that he supported such a move. That could spark yet another controversy in a campaign that, for all its strengths, doesn’t need any more of them.

 Businesswoman Carly Fiorina

 It was more of the same from the former Hewlett Packard CEO. She is a very effective communicator who wraps many of her policy positions in the same overarching theme: that vested interests control the political system and that she is the person to take them on. But the suspicion lingers that Fiorina had her moment in the sun after the second GOP debate in September. She has faded since then, and there’s no apparent reason to believe she can reverse that trend.

 Businessman Donald Trump

 This was the mogul’s weakest performance in any of the four debates. No single disaster befell him, but he had a couple of bad moments. One came when he complained about Fiorina interrupting other candidates, in the process reminding people of a previous uproar over his comments about her appearance. The other came when, asked about the threat from Russia, he delivered an answer that was conspicuously lacking in detail. Still, Trump remains far ahead in the polls, alongside Carson, despite endless predictions of his imminent demise. Don’t be surprised if his poll ratings prove durable one more time.

 LOSERS

 Ohio Gov. John Kasich

 Kasich needed a big night and he got one — but in all the wrong ways. Kasich tried to mix it up with several candidates and almost always emerged the loser. Early on, Trump swatted his attacks aside. Much later, he tangled with Cruz on the wisdom of bailing out troubled banks. At one point during that exchange, Kasich appeared to suggest he could decide who should lose their deposits during a bank failure in a financial crisis. Such moments undercut Kasich’s central claim as a pragmatic executive. It was a very bad night for Kasich, and deeper questions are now likely to be asked about the viability of his candidacy. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Compared to last month's CNBC debate, Tuesday night's GOP debate in Milwaukee was long on policy and short on "gotcha" questions and clashes between candidates and moderators, though analysts say the scorecard isn't that different from last time around, with front-runners Donald Trump and Ben Carson both failing to shine. A look around at the chatter: Winners. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were widely seen as the night's standouts, with Politico describing them as "the two strongest candidates" after "showcasing their mastery of the facts and ease under the bright lights." Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post deems Cruz, after his attacks on DC's "crony culture, to now be the "outsider" candidate most likely to succeed. Honorable mentions. Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul both had praiseworthy moments, with Fiorina once again demonstrating a strong command of the issues and impressive debating skills. Paul managed to get his message on fiscal policy across, and, "at this stage of his candidacy, that amounts to a win," per the Post. Carson's performance was seen as middling, with policy answers lacking in substance, though he did ably deflect a question about the recent controversies over his life story. Jeb Bush. He needed a good night after a dismal performance last month, and opinions are split on whether he delivered. It "was Bush's best performance in any of the debates so far," according to the Hill—but "unfortunately for him, that's a rather low bar." He was more assertive than in previous debates, though it's "uncertain" whether that will be enough to give his campaign much of a boost, notes a New York Times assessment. Still, it adds that "he no longer seemed as desperate to be somewhere else," while a Politico analysis has a "Bush stops the bleeding" headline and theme. Losers. John Kasich was more of a presence in this debate, but it was not a presence many people liked, with the National Review calling him "angry, condescending, and unprincipled" and likening him to "the drunk, obnoxious uncle everyone wishes hadn't accepted the invitation to Thanksgiving dinner." Trump's performance was seen as his weakest yet, and Politico says he "committed perhaps the biggest gaffe of the night" by suggesting wages in America are too high. Fox Business Network. Unlike CNBC's widely criticized debate, Fox's debate was seen as "fair and balanced," with candidates receiving a roughly equal amount of speaking time, ranging from 13 minutes 35 seconds for Cruz to 9 minutes 22 seconds for Carson, according to Politico. "And that @CNBC is how you run a debate," tweeted RNC chairman Reince Priebus. Click for some of the biggest moments and best lines from the debate.


News article:

A Christmas Day robbery at Yountville’s storied French Laundry restaurant netted a king’s collection of fabulous wines worth at least $300,000.

 The thieves, who jimmied a door at the wine room on the property, obviously knew exactly what they were going for. Most of the 76 bottles taken were from the Domaine de la Romanée Conti, including bottles from the fabled Burgundy estate’s Romanée Conti vineyard that are worth at least $15,000 each.

 UPDATE: French Laundry burglary: 'It's only wine,' owner says

 French Laundry chef and proprietor Thomas Keller took to Twitter, asking for help from the wine community in finding the thieves.

 “On Christmas day, The French Laundry was the victim of a robbery. Specific wines of specific value were stolen (DRC & Screaming Eagle). We have complete trust in the authorities leading the investigation, and we welcome any information our community may have regarding the event.

 French Laundry door The French Laundry The splintered door to the wine room at the French Laundry. The splintered door to the wine room at the French Laundry. (The French Laundry)

 “We are confident that if and when any of the stolen bottles appear in public, they will immediately raise questions and red flags among the wine knowledgeable.

 “The French Laundry wine program is, as many of you know, singular and distinct. We look forward to rebuilding our cellar in the meantime and plan to get to the bottom of this disheartening act immediately.

 “Please contact media@tkrg.com with any information.”

 The French Laundry, which just celebrated its 20th birthday this summer, is acknowledged to be one of the greatest restaurants in the world. It's one of only 13 in the United States that have earned three stars from the Michelin restaurant guide. Another is its East Coast sibling, Per Se.

 The French Laundry in Yountville. Eric Risberg / Associated Press The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif. The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif. (Eric Risberg / Associated Press)

 In a statement Tuesday morning, Keller added: “We are working with local law enforcement in this ongoing investigation and appreciate any information the community may have that could help us identify the offenders. We look forward to rebuilding our cellar and moving forward with The French Laundry’s kitchen remodel.”

 Most of the wines taken were highly collectible and trade mostly on the private and auction markets. Prices fluctuate, but a rough value can be estimated from an analysis of similar bottles listed for sale at retail on the Wine Searcher website.

 Retail prices, of course, are only a fraction of what the wines would sell for on a restaurant wine list. Typical restaurant mark-ups are two to three times retail, and with rare wines can be even higher.

 Among the most valuable wines taken were bottles of DRC Romanée Conti from the vintages spanning 2004-2010, which range in price at retail from $11,000 to $15,000 per bottle. There were bottles of DRC’s La Tache from 1993 to 2010, which range in price from to $2,100 to $4,500 each.

 The thieves also took several bottles of California cult Cabernet Sauvignon Screaming Eagle, with prices ranging from $2,100 to $7,500.

 The French Laundry had just served its last meal on Christmas Eve before closing down for as long as six months or more for a complete kitchen remodel.

 Here's a complete list of the wines taken:

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Grands Echezeaux” 2007

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Grands Echezeaux” 2008

 3 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Grands Echezeaux” 2009

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Grands Echezeaux” 2010

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Romanée St. Vivant” 2003

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Romanée St. Vivant” 2005

 3 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Romanée St. Vivant” 2006

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Romanée St. Vivant” 2007

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Romanée St. Vivant” 2008

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Romanée St. Vivant” 2009

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Romanée St. Vivant” 2010

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Richebourg” 1988

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Richebourg” 2002

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Richebourg” 2005

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Richebourg” 2006

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Richebourg” 2008

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Richebourg” 2009

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Richebourg” 2010

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 1993

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 1996

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 1999

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 2002

 1 bottle Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 2004

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 2005

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 2006

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 2007

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 2008

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 2009

 2 bottles Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “La Tâche” 2010 ||||| Update, 12/31: The Chronicle’s full news story is here.

 ***

 On Christmas Day, an unknown visitor allegedly broke into the French Laundry. But rather than just eat some cookies, the intruder — or intruders — made off with some of the four-star restaurant’s most expensive wines.

 The restaurant — which closed for its long-awaited kitchen remodel on Saturday — released the below statement tonight. Thomas Keller tweeted out an abbreviated version as well.

 On Christmas day, The French Laundry was the victim of a robbery. Specific wines of specific value were stolen (DRC & Screaming Eagle). We have complete trust in the authorities leading the investigation, and we welcome any information our community may have regarding the event. We are confident that if and when any of the stolen bottles appear in public, they will immediately raise questions and red flags among the wine knowledgeable. The French Laundry wine program is, as many of you know, singular and distinct. We look forward to rebuilding our cellar in the meantime and plan to get to the bottom of this disheartening act immediately. Please contact media@tkrg.com with any information.

 No further details are available at this point, according to the restaurant. This post will be updated accordingly.

 Also, the French Laundry would not confirm exactly which bottles were stolen, or how many. Screaming Eagle is a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa; Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is an estate in Burgundy. For those curious about the general price point of the wines in question, here are the restaurant’s prices for bottles of those labels, from its online wine list:

 Screaming Eagle 2002 $6500

 Screaming Eagle 2010 $3500

 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1988 $5750

 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1998 $3950

 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1999 $7950

 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2007 $3250

 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2008 $3500

 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2009 $4500

 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2010 $3950

 This is the restaurant’s damaged door:

 A photo posted by The French Laundry (@_tfl_) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:06pm PST

 Update, 12/30, 9:10 a.m.:

 In total, 76 bottles have been reported missing. These are the bottles:

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Grands Echezeaux 2007 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Grands Echezeaux 2008 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Grands Echezeaux 2009 3

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Grands Echezeaux 2010 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee St. Vivant 2003 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee St. Vivant 2005 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee St. Vivant 2006 3

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee St. Vivant 2007 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee St. Vivant 2008 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee St. Vivant 2009 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee St. Vivant 2010 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Richebourg 1988 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Richebourg Grand Cru 2002 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Richebourg 2005 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Richebourg 2006 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Richebourg 2008 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Richebourg 2009 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Richebourg 2010 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 1993 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 1996 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 1999 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tâche Grand Cru 2002 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 2004 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 2005 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 2006 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 2007 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 2008 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 2009 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la La Tache 2010 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee Conti 2004 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee Conti 2005 1

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Grand Cru 2006 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee Conti 2007 3

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee Conti 2008 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee Conti 2009 2

 Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanee Conti 2010 2

 Mugnier Jacques-Frederic Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Maréchale 750 2005 2

 Mugnier Jean-Jacques-Frédéric Nuits-St. Georges Clos de la Maréchale 750 2008 2

 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1992 1

 Screaming Eagle Cabernet 1995 1

 Screaming Eagle Cabernet 1998 1

 Screaming Eagle Cabernet 1999 1

 Screaming Eagle Cabernet 2010 1

 Moet & Chandon Champagne Brut Grand Cru Cuvée Dom Perignon 1500 2004 5

 · Previously: The French Laundry readies for its remodel, temporary closure and more [Inside Scoop] |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Burglars who knew their wine made off with nearly 80 bottles from a high-end California restaurant. How high-end? Figure at least $300,000 worth of vino, reports the Los Angeles Times. The break-in occurred Christmas Day at the Michelin-starred French Laundry in the Napa region, and some of the bottles taken—specifically those from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti—are worth around $15,000. Chef and proprietor Thomas Keller asked the wine community via Twitter to keep an eye out for the stolen bottles. The restaurant had closed the previous night ahead of a renovation that's expected to take about six months, and thieves simply jimmied open the door to the wine room to collect their loot. You can see the full list of the 76 bottles stolen at the San Francisco Chronicle's Inside Scoop blog.


Article:
Tyshawn Lee murder ‘act of savagery and treachery’

 Interim Chicago Police Superintendent John Escalante speaks at a news conference Tuesday about charges being filed in the Nov. 2 slaying death of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee. | Teresa Crawford/Associated Press

 Tyshawn Lee was playing on a swing set in the park like any fourth-grader when a stranger walked up and grabbed his basketball.

 The man dribbled a few times, handed the ball to the 9-year-old and asked if he wanted to go to a store.

 And in a decision that is every parent’s nightmare, the little boy followed the man from Dawes Park into an alley near his grandmother’s South Side home. The man faced him and shot him in the right temple — execution-style.

 Those were the harrowing allegations that Cook County prosecutors made Tuesday during a bond hearing for Dwright Boone-Doty, a 22-year-old gang member accused of killing Tyshawn to get even with his rivals.

 Prosecutors said Boone-Doty originally planned to torture Tyshawn and cut off his fingers and ears — and kill the boy’s grandmother.

 Boone-Doty, who was charged on Monday with Tyshawn’s Nov. 2 murder — and an earlier shooting that left a woman dead and a man wounded — was ordered held without bail.

 An informant secretly recorded Boone-Doty making incriminating statements about the fatal shootings, sources said.

 Boone-Doty was already in the Cook County Jail on a separate gun charge. An inmate agreed to wear a wire after telling authorities that Boone-Doty bragged about shooting Tyshawn, the sources said.

 Boone-Doty had laughed about the shooting, saying he “seen that bitch go in his head,” prosecutors said, adding that he was writing a rap song in jail that mentioned the killing.

 “It’s hard to accept,” Boone-Doty’s mother, Michelle Doty, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “You don’t think I would try to do all I could to turn my baby around?”

 Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez called the child’s killing “among the worst I’ve ever seen in my 30 years as a prosecutor.” And Interim Police Supt. John Escalante said: “I have never witnessed such an act of savagery and treachery.”

 Two other men have already been implicated in Tyshawn’s murder. On Nov. 27, Corey Morgan, 27, of Lansing, was charged with murder, and police have a warrant for the arrest of a third suspect, Kevin Edwards, 22.

 Tyshawn, Brianna Jenkins and Deshari Bowens were victims of a gang feud over the murder of Tracey Morgan, 25, authorities said.

 On Oct. 13, Morgan, a parolee, was shot to death and his mother was wounded after they left a police-sponsored meeting intended to resolve gang conflicts.

 His brother Corey Morgan allegedly vowed to target “mothers, grandmothers babies and all” because his brother was killed and his mother was shot.

 Corey Morgan and Boone-Doty — members of the Bang Bang Gang faction of the Black P Stones — were gunning for rivals in the Killaward faction of the Gangster Disciples, who they believed were responsible for Tracey Morgan’s death, prosecutors said.

 On Oct. 18, Jenkins, 19, and Bowens, 20, were sitting in a car about 4:30 p.m. in the 7800 block of South Honore when they were shot, police said. Jenkins was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

 Friends drove Bowens to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition stabilized. Boone-Doty said he went to the hospital to finish off Bowens, but was unable to do so, prosecutors said.

 Boone-Doty allegedly said he didn’t know who was in the car before he opened fire, but he thought Bowens was a rival because he shouldn’t have been parked on that block.

 Tyshawn was shot about two weeks later, on Nov. 2, because of his father’s ties to the Killaward gang faction, police said.

 Boone-Doty and Corey Morgan were arrested on gun charges on Nov. 16. Police stopped their car in Evergreen Park and found a loaded .40-caliber handgun in Boone-Doty’s waistband. A loaded .45-caliber handgun was in a duffel bag, police said.

 Lab tests showed one of the guns was used in Jenkins’ killing, prosecutors revealed Tuesday.

 Escalante said the spiraling cycle of gang violence that claimed Tyshawn’s life is all too common in the city, but the grade-schooler’s murder marked a chilling break even from the bloody norms of Chicago’s gang warfare.

 “The murder of Tyshawn Lee was something far more sinister. This was a targeted assassination by Dwright Doty, Kevin Edwards and Corey Morgan,” Escalante said. “Tyshawn was an innocent child betrayed by these three men. Sadly, he paid the ultimate price for gang violence, senseless gang violence, that plagued his neighborhood.”

 Boone-Doty was on parole when he allegedly killed Tyshawn, authorities said.

 He was sentenced to five years in prison in July 2013 for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and drug possession in downstate Sangamon County, prison records show. Officers had found a stolen handgun under the seat of a car he was in. They also found cocaine on him.

 He was paroled in August 2015, three months before Tyshawn was lured into the alley in the 8000 block of South Damen and shot to death.

 Boone-Doty is the father of three children, ages 4, 3 and 6 months, an assistant public defender said. Before he was jailed, he worked for his father’s construction company and his grandfather’s landscaping business, his attorney said.

 Boone-Doty completed 10th grade and has a certificate in technology.

 He appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit. A group of deputies stood behind Boone-Doty while prosecutors detailed the horrifying allegations against him.

 Despite sunny skies and temperatures that reached into the 70s on Tuesday, there were few visitors to Dawes Park, where Tyshawn had been playing on Nov. 2.

 “Probably a lot of people are still afraid to bring their kids to the park,” said Korey Baker, who sat on a jungle gym with his girlfriend as their 10-year-old clambered overhead.

 “I came to this park growing up. It’s a shame. It’s like people don’t respect children anymore. Chicago’s getting to be a bad place,” said Baker, a security guard.

 Baker lamented that Tyshawn’s death forced him to share some hard truths with his young son.

 “I told my son, ‘There are monsters out there. You have to listen to mommy and daddy.’ I was sorry to have to tell it to him like that, but I don’t want him to think we live in some dream world.” ||||| Tyshawn Lee's 'Coward' Executioner Charged in Murder That Devastated City View Full Caption

 AUBURN GRESHAM — The executioner of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee — the Chicago boy lured away from a park and shot dead to get back at his family during a gang feud — laughed and bragged about killing the boy while in jail on a separate charge, prosecutors said Tuesday.

 First-degree murder charges have been filed against Dwright Boone-Doty, 22, the alleged gunman in the crime that stunned the city and drew national headlines.

 He was also charged this week in the Oct. 18 murder of 19-year-old Brianna Jenkins — a case in which Boone-Doty was gunning for rival gang members and fatally shot Jenkins to "shut her up," prosecutors allege.

 Prosecutors say Corey Morgan (left) and Kevin Edwards planned the heinous murder of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee. View Full Caption Chicago Police Department

 Boone-Doty was held without bail Tuesday after prosecutors described the brutal murder of Tyshawn — and how seemingly proud of himself Boone-Doty was after allegedly committing it.

 “Shorty, he was like he couldn’t take it no more," Boone-Doty reportedly said as he repeatedly laughed and described shooting Tyshawn in the face, according to prosecutors. "Shorty couldn’t take it no more.”

 RELATED: Read the Horrifying Court Documents From the Tyshawn Lee Murder Case

 Tyshawn was hit in his back, forearm and head, and part of his thumb was shot off as if he were raising his hand to block the shots, prosecutors said previously. Boone-Doty was facing Tyshawn when he shot him, something he had wanted to do "because he was so little," according to prosecutors.

 Boone-Doty also had a rap song about the slaying in the works and said he regretted not going back to the park to kill more kids, Assistant State's Attorney George Canellis said during a bond hearing Tuesday.

 "In my nearly 30 years of policing, I have never witnessed such a hateful act of treachery ... and zero regard for human life," Interim Police Supt. John Escalante said Tuesday during a news conference.

 According to Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, the murder was the result of a gang feud between two factions of the Gangster Disciples. Boone-Doty and his accomplices initially planned to kill Tyshawn's grandmother, she said. But when that didn't pan out, the men focused on Tyshawn because his father was a "ranking gang member."

 "His original plan was to torture this child by kidnapping and cutting off his fingers and his ears," Alvarez said.

 The men allegedly went out with guns daily looking for someone to shoot in retaliation after co-defendant Corey Morgan's brother was killed by gang gunfire. Boone-Doty was "on a killing spree with absolutely no sense of humanity," Alvarez said.

 Police have already charged Morgan, 27, with murder in Tyshawn's shooting. A third suspect, Kevin Williams, is still at large.

 "Last fall, Tyshawn Lee’s horrific murder shocked the collective conscience of our city," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. "It was one of the most disturbing examples of the terrible toll that having too many gangs, too many guns and too few values has taken on our communities."

 The boy's Nov. 2 murder shocked the city — and the story became even more stunning when police said it was no accident. Tyshawn was lured from a basketball game at Dawes Park by Boone-Doty, who dribbled the child's basketball for a few minutes and offered to buy the child whatever he wanted from the store before taking him into the alley and shooting him multiple times at close range, Alvarez said. Morgan and Williams allegedly looked on in a nearby SUV.

 TRANSCRIPT: Police Describe Tyshawn Lee's Murder, Criminal Investigation

 The gang feud came to a boil after an Oct. 13 shooting in which Morgan's brother, Tracey Morgan, was killed and his mother was wounded. Morgan was so enraged he threatened to shoot "grandmas, mamas, kids and all" in retaliation. Another man involved in Tyshawn's shooting said "everybody must die," according to prosecutors.

 Though police maintain Tyshawn was killed due his father's gang ties, Pierre Stokes told DNAinfo he gave up gangbanging for his son. Stokes helped in the investigation, but he was initially reluctant, officials said.

 Boone-Doty's brutality was further illustrated when prosecutors described how he killed Jenkins weeks before Tyshawn. On Oct. 18, Brianna Jenkins and Dashari Bowens were in a car in the 7800 block of South Honore Street when Boone-Doty passed by in different vehicle, according to Canellis.

 Boone-Doty didn't see who was in the car, officials said Tuesday, but he saw dreadlocks and thought it might be a rival gang member. Boone-Doty got out and fired multiple shots into the car, killing Jenkins and wounding Bowens. Jenkins was not an intended target.

 Boone-Doty later admitted that Jenkins started screaming when he began shooting, so he shot the woman to "instantly shut her up," prosecutors said.

 When Boone-Doty later learned that Bowens didn't die, Boone-Doty tried to find the shooting victim at Advocate Christ Masonic Medical Center to finish the job — but he wasn't able to get in, prosecutors said.

 Boone-Doty was later was arrested with multiple guns, according to Canellis. One of the weapons was a positive match to the gun that killed Jenkins and wounded Bowens.

 Boone-Doty previously was convicted of drug and gun charges in 2013 and sentenced to five years in prison. He was sentenced to two years in prison for a 2011 drug and gun case.

 As a juvenile, Boone-Doty was convicted of a gun charge in 2010 and sentenced to the Illinois Youth Center in suburban St. Charles.

 Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy said Boone-Doty should not have been free and able to kill, and that that illustrates problems with the criminal justice system.

 Police "will continue to hold gang members accountable time and time again," Roy said.

 Emanuel thanked police in an emailed statement Tuesday.

 "Long after the spotlight faded, the men and women of the Chicago Police Department remained dedicated to finding justice and their determination drove today's result," Rahm said.

 For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: ||||| The slaying of Tyshawn Lee was so heinous it stood out even among the hardened criminals at Cook County Jail.

 It was there — on tiers where accused armed robbers, killers and gang members await trial — that a 22-year-old gang member started bragging about how he had lured the innocent 9-year-old into an alley with a promise of treats and then looked him in the face before fatally shooting him, law enforcement sources told the Tribune. He'd written it all down in a rap song and had contemplated even more grisly plans such as torturing the child, according to prosecutors.

 The chilling details emerged Tuesday after authorities charged Dwright Boone-Doty, a reputed gunman for the Bang Bang Gang/Terror Dome faction of the Black P Stones, with killing Tyshawn because of his father's alleged gang ties.

 It marked the second alleged gang member to be charged. A third remains at large.

 A crucial break in the investigation came with the cooperation of an inmate who secretly recorded Boone-Doty's conversations, according to the sources. Chicago police detectives then worked round-the-clock monitoring the chatter and verifying details of what they were hearing.

 The targeted slaying in early November of a child as part of an ongoing gang war horrified Chicago and the nation because of its brutal nature. But Tyshawn was not the only innocent victim caught in the crossfire of the long-running feud between the Black P Stones faction and Killa Ward, an offshoot of the Gangster Disciples. Weeks earlier, Boone-Doty had gunned down Brianna Jenkins, a 19-year-old woman who aspired to be a nurse, as she sat next to the intended target, a rival gang member whom she had recently met, according to prosecutors and family.

 All told, Chicago police are investigating that the gang war in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood has led to at least 15 shootings, including at least five homicides, since 2011, according to the sources.

 Police said neither the human toll nor length of the violent rivalry were unprecedented for Chicago's gang wars, which are increasingly fueled by block-to-block feuds by smaller factions. That it snared a 9-year-old, however, stunned the most seasoned police officers.

 "In nearly 30 years of policing, I have never witnessed such a hateful act of treachery and savageness towards an innocent child," interim Police Superintendent John Escalante said at a news conference announcing the charges.

 On Tuesday a judge ordered Boone-Doty held without bail for both slayings after his appearance in a packed courtroom with his hands and legs in shackles surrounded by half a dozen sheriff's officials.

 Tyshawn's mother, Karla Lee, left the courtroom during the bond hearing and could be heard wailing in the hallway.

 Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune Karla Lee, center, leaves the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on March 8, 2016, after Dwright Boone-Doty was charged with killing her 9-year-old son, Tyshawn Lee. Karla Lee, center, leaves the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on March 8, 2016, after Dwright Boone-Doty was charged with killing her 9-year-old son, Tyshawn Lee. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

 After serving about two years on a five-year sentence in a drug and gun case, Boone-Doty had been paroled from the Illinois Department of Corrections two months before Jenkins was shot, authorities said. Boone-Doty had at least one prior weapon conviction for which he served time in state prison.

 After the informant told jail officials of his conversations with Boone-Doty, Chicago police detectives obtained a court order for him to wear a wire and record Boone-Doty, the sources said. The recordings captured Boone-Doty implicating himself in both killings, according to the sources.

 In addition, prosecutors said they have physical evidence and GPS data linking him to the killings.

 The feud with Killa Ward escalated significantly Oct. 13 when Tracey Morgan, a reputed Bang Bang Gang/Terror Dome member, was shot and killed while leaving a mandatory parolee meeting with Chicago police on the South Side. Morgan's mother, who was in the car with him, was wounded.

 This breach of unwritten gang protocol — the wounding of a mother — drew a fiery response. Corey Morgan, Tracey's brother, was heard to say that he was targeting "grandmas, mamas, kids and all" for shootings, prosecutors have alleged.

 Morgan, Boone-Doty and a third suspect took to the streets daily to make good on that promise, prosecutors said Tuesday. At one point, Boone-Doty conducted surveillance on Tyshawn's grandmother with plans to kill her in order to draw out rival gang members, prosecutors alleged.

 It was during this time that the trio allegedly saw Tyshawn with his father, an alleged Killa Ward member, according to a law enforcement source.

 On the afternoon of Oct. 18, five days after Tracey Morgan was killed, Boone-Doty was driving near the area of 78th and Honore streets when he spotted a rival gang member sitting in a car, according to prosecutors. Boone-Doty exited his car, walked up to the rival's vehicle and opened fire at the rival and Jenkins, who was sitting beside him, prosecutors said.

 Boone-Doty said he shot Jenkins "because she started screaming," prosecutors said.

 Police have linked a gun recovered from Boone-Doty to Jenkins' killing, prosecutors said.

 The trio's plan for revenge did not end there, the charges alleged. On the afternoon of Nov. 2, they spotted Tyshawn playing basketball in Dawes Park, prosecutors said.

 Boone-Doty lured Tyshawn out of a play lot by asking him if he wanted to go to the store, according to prosecutors. When the boy said he had no money, Boone-Doty said he would buy him whatever he wanted, prosecutors said.

 Tyshawn, a fourth-grader at Joplin Elementary School, was lured to the alley in the 8000 block of South Damen Avenue and shot repeatedly. A basketball that he always carried with him was found nearby. Neighbors heard shots ring out.

 "Nothing but a child. A little kid just 9 years old," Sidney Grandberry, who owns the garage where Tyshawn was found, said Tuesday. "He trusted him and they did that to him. I will never forget that."

 Prosecutors alleged in court that Boone-Doty laughed as he described to the other inmate how he shot Tyshawn in the head.

 "Shorty, he couldn't take it no more," Boone-Doty allegedly said.

 Boone-Doty considered torturing the child by cutting off his fingers and ears, according to prosecutors. He also bragged that he had written a rap song about the slaying, they said.

 "I don't think I have ever been more disgusted and appalled by such inhumanity," Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said Tuesday at the news conference at police headquarters. "The intentional murder of Tyshawn Lee is the among the worst I have ever seen in my almost 30 years as a prosecutor." |||||Summary:

– The man charged with murdering a 9-year-old boy in Chicago allegedly "laughed and bragged" about the killing while in jail, DNAinfo reports. Prosecutors say 22-year-old Dwright Boone-Doty lured fourth-grader Tyshawn Lee into an alley in November and shot him as part of an ongoing gang feud. According to the Chicago Tribune, an informant in jail while Boone-Doty was being held on an unrelated gun charge was wearing a wire while Boone-Doty discussed the shooting. "Shorty couldn’t take it no more," prosecutors quote Boone-Doty, allegedly describing Tyshawn during the shooting. Tyshawn was shot in the head, back, and arm; part of his thumb was also shot off. Evidence from the scene indicates Boone-Doty likely failed to kill Tyshawn with his first shot, the Chicago Sun Times reports. Prosecutors say Boone-Doty was writing a rap song about killing Tyshawn while in jail and was sorry he didn't go back to the park where he found Tyshawn to kill more kids. Authorities also claim Boone-Doty—along with two alleged accomplices—at one point planned to kidnap Tyshawn and cut off his ears and fingers. Tyshawn was a backup target after killing his grandmother didn't work out, prosecutors say. A second man has been charged in the killing; a third is still wanted. Boone-Doty was charged with Tyshawn's murder—as well as the murder of a 19-year-old woman weeks earlier—on Monday. The father of three was ordered held without bail. Police say Tyshawn's father belongs to a rival gang.


Write a summary based on this article:

This Friday is Data Privacy Day, an international effort by governments, businesses and advocacy groups to raise awareness about the importance of staying in control of personal information. A key part of controlling information has always been protecting it from security threats like viruses, malware and hackers.

 That's why we've developed a number of complex systems that operate behind the scenes to keep you secure on Facebook. In addition, we've created some advanced features you can use to help protect yourself even more, such as remote logout and one-time passwords. These features are especially useful when you're uncertain whether your network or computer is secure. Today, we're announcing two new such features.

 A Secured Connection

 If you've ever done your shopping or banking online, you may have noticed a small "lock" icon appear in your address bar, or that the address bar has turned green. This indicates that your browser is using a secure connection ("HTTPS") to communicate with the website and ensure that the information you send remains private. Facebook currently uses HTTPS whenever your password is sent to us, but today we're expanding its usage in order to help keep your data even more secure.

 Starting today we'll provide you with the ability to experience Facebook entirely over HTTPS. You should consider enabling this option if you frequently use Facebook from public Internet access points found at coffee shops, airports, libraries or schools. The option will exist as part of our advanced security features, which you can find in the "Account Security" section of the Account Settings page.

 There are a few things you should keep in mind before deciding to enable HTTPS. Encrypted pages take longer to load, so you may notice that Facebook is slower using HTTPS. In addition, some Facebook features, including many third-party applications, are not currently supported in HTTPS. We'll be working hard to resolve these remaining issues. We are rolling this out slowly over the next few weeks, but you will be able to turn this feature on in your Account Settings soon. We hope to offer HTTPS as a default whenever you are using Facebook sometime in the future.

 Social Authentication

 At Facebook we strive to put people at the center of all of our products and to design every experience you have on the site to be social. This is obvious in products like photos, where pictures are organized around the people that appear in them. We also want to bring the benefits of social design to experiences where you wouldn't traditionally expect them, like account security. Social authentication is our latest effort toward this goal.

 The vast majority of people who have used Facebook have never experienced a security problem. However, if we detect suspicious activity on your account, like if you logged in from California in the morning and then from Australia a few hours later, we may ask you to verify your identity so we can be sure your account hasn't been compromised.

 Many sites around the web use a type of challenge-response test called a captcha in their registration or purchasing flows. The purpose of this test is to verify that you are a human being and not a computer trying to game the system. Traditional captchas have a number of limitations including being (at times) incredibly hard to decipher and, since they are only meant to defend against attacks by computers, vulnerable to human hackers.

 Instead of showing you a traditional captcha on Facebook, one of the ways we may help verify your identity is through social authentication. We will show you a few pictures of your friends and ask you to name the person in those photos. Hackers halfway across the world might know your password, but they don't know who your friends are.

 We will continue to test social authentication and gather feedback from you and the security community on how to make this and other social features safe and useful.

 <object width=400 height=224><param name=allowfullscreen value=true></param><param name=movie value="http://www.facebook.com/v/10150398154330484"></param><embed src="http://www.facebook.com/v/10150398154330484" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen=true width=400 height=224></embed></object>

 To learn more about how to keep your information safe on Facebook and across the internet, please visit the Facebook Security Page.

 Alex Rice, a security engineer, is enjoying Facebook from a coffee shop. ||||| Facebook finally provided a way to keep any random jerk in the café from hijacking your account. But you have to go out of your way to enable this protection, and you might have to wait. Still: Jump on this.

 Facebook has at long last offered an option to use the encrypted "HTTPS" protocol, a feature it will begin rolling out today but won't finish for a "few weeks." You should check now if it's available, and sign up as soon as it is enabled for your account. The performance overhead is minor—zippy Gmail, for example, uses HTTPS for everything—and it's an important step to keep your Facebook account safe from being hijacked on an open or poorly secured wireless network.

 By default, Facebook sends your access credentials in the clear, with no encryption whatsoever. Switching to HTTPS is important because a browser extension called Firesheep has made it especially easy for anyone sharing your open wireless network—at cafe or conference, for example—to sniff your credentials and freely access your account. One blogger sitting in a random New York Starbucks was able to steal 20-40 Facebook identities in half an hour. HTTPS solves this longstanding problem by encrypting your login cookies and other data; in fact the inventor of Firesheep made the software to encourage companies like Facebook to finally lock down their systems.

 You can sign up for Facebook HTTPS by going to Account Settings and then selecting "Account Security," third from the bottom. Then click under "Secure Browsing" — if it's there. Facebook says everyone should have this by the end of the day, but in the meantime you might be missing the relevant option toggle.

 Facebook is sure taking its sweet time rolling this out. Firesheep has been out for more than three months, and the EFF released a plugin for secure Facebook connections back in June. Even the HTTPS option is half measure. It applies only on the website, not on Facebook's iPhone app.

 And HTTPS should really be automatic for all Facebook users, not an opt-in buried in one of Facebook's famously labyrinthine settings menus. Facebook seems to recognize this, writing, "We hope to offer HTTPS as a default whenever you are using Facebook sometime in the future." Given that Facebook secures not only intimate pictures and chats but people's credentials on other websites, that future really can't come soon enough. But if history is any guide, Facebook's users are in for a long wait for proper security. |||||

– Facebook has begun rolling out an important new protection, and Gawker's Ryan Tate says users should "jump on this" as soon they can. It's an encryption tool called Facebook HTTPS that will "keep any random jerk in the café from hijacking your account." Unfortunately, users have to opt-in to the service, at least for now, and Tate offers a walk-through of how to do it under Account Settings. (Facebook does, too, in its blog post.) You may not be able to make the switch immediately, but keep checking back. "Switching to HTTPS is important because a browser extension called Firesheep has made it especially easy for anyone sharing your open wireless network—at cafe or conference, for example—to sniff your credentials and freely access your account," writes Tate. Also note that this protection doesn't apply to the Facebook iPhone app.


Article:

PARIS (Reuters) - Far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon embraced technology during the launch of his presidential campaign at a rally in Lyon on Sunday, with a 3D hologram of him making his speech appearing at the same time at another rally in Paris.

 Technicians are seen with equipment used to produce a hologram that is trasmitted to a gathering in Saint-Denis as politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, of the French far-left Parti de Gauche, and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, speaks on stage during a campaign rally in Chassieu, near Lyon, France, February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

 Melenchon, wearing a Nehru-style jacket, tried to use the hologram technology give a modern look to his launch, which coincided with that of the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

 Melenchon is certainly not the first politician to employ such technology - in 2014, then-Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan used a huge hologram of himself to attract wider support, while India’s Narendra Modi trounced the opposition with a campaign that included holograms of his speeches in villages across the country.

 Melenchon tried to position himself on Sunday as a key adversary of Marine Le Pen, choosing Lyon - and almost the same timing - for the launch of his campaign.

 Le Pen, speaking in Lyon on Sunday, told thousands of flag-waving supporters chanting “This is our country!” that she alone would protect them against Islamic fundamentalism and globalisation if elected president in May.

 There are some similarities between Melenchon’s platform and Le Pen’s, as both are skeptical of the EU and globalisation, but they differ sharply on other issues including migration.

 During his speech, Melenchon mentioned the Socialist party’s presidential candidate Benoit Hamon, who has called on left-wing forces to unite.

 “Everyone wants to abolish El Khomri (a labor law), including the Socialist candidate. I wonder what holds him back?” said Melanchon, who has between 11 and 11.5 percent support, according to Friday’s BVA poll.

 The Socialists, weakened after the deeply unpopular presidency of Francois Hollande, have no chance of getting beyond the first round of the election in April, according to the latest polls.

 The poll by BVA of voting intentions on Friday gave Hamon between 16 and 17 percent in the April 23 first round, behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen on 25 percent, independent centrist Emmanuel Macron on 21-22 percent and conservative Francois Fillon on 20 percent. ||||| Republican guards, right, line up in the courtyard of the presidential Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, April 14, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Christophe... (Associated Press)

 Republican guards, right, line up in the courtyard of the presidential Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, April 14, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) (Associated Press)

 Republican guards, right, line up in the courtyard of the presidential Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, April 14, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) (Associated Press) Republican guards, right, line up in the courtyard of the presidential Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, April 14, 2017. The two-round presidential election is set for April 23 and May 7. (AP Photo/Christophe... (Associated Press)

 PARIS (AP) — Facebook says it has targeted 30,000 fake accounts linked to France ahead of the country's presidential election, as part of a worldwide effort against misinformation.

 The company said Thursday it's trying to "reduce the spread of material generated through inauthentic activity, including spam, misinformation, or other deceptive content that is often shared by creators of fake accounts."

 It said its efforts "enabled us to take action" against the French accounts and that it is removing sites with the highest traffic.

 Facebook and French media are also running fact-checking programs in France to combat misleading information, especially around the campaign for the two-round April 23-May 7 presidential election.

 European authorities have also pressured Facebook and Twitter to remove extremist propaganda or other postings that violate European hate speech or other laws.

 Facebook ramped up its efforts against the spread of false news and misinformation on its service in December, a month after the U.S. presidential election. The company said at the time that it will focus on the "worst of the worst" offenders and partner with outside fact-checkers and news organizations to sort honest news reports from made-up stories.

 It was accused of allowing the spread of false news in the months leading up to the U.S. election, which critics said may have helped sway the results in favor of Donald Trump. Since December, the company has broadened its efforts beyond the U.S.

 Last week, it launched a resource to help users spot false news in 14 countries including the U.S., France and Germany. It's a notification, available for a few days, that leads users to a list of tips for spotting false news and ways to report it.

 Facebook's other efforts include participating with other companies and tech industry leaders to establish a "news integrity" nonprofit organization to promote news literacy and increase the public's trust in journalism. A nascent Facebook Journalism Project , meanwhile, is a lofty effort to work with news organizations to develop products, provide tools for journalists and generally promote trust in news. ||||| The French will go to the polls this weekend, and again on May 7 to pick their new president, and the world will be watching to see just how far the "populist wave" has travelled.

 After the surprise of Britain's Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump as US president, just what kind of politician – and politics – France chooses will be of huge interest to many, not just those inside Europe.

 Here's everything you need to know about the battle for the Élysée Palace.

 Who are the candidates?

 The top five candidates in 2017's French election are, in alphabetical order: François Fillon (Les Republicains), Benoît Hamon (Socialists), Marine Le Pen (Front National) and Emmanuel Macron (Independent) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (Unbowed France).

 While there is no clear winner at this stage – political scandals, distrust of polls, the shock Brexit result and Donald Trump's victory mean that sure bets off – there is a frontrunner.

 When is the election?

 Candidates are pitted against each other twice – the first round of the vote takes place on Sunday, April 23. Then, the two top candidates face each other in a second run-off, on Sunday, May 7.

 French elections always take place on a Sunday.

 Who's the favourite to win?

 French elections are usually a two-horse race between the conservative Les Republicains (formerly the UMP) and the Left-wing Socialist Party. But for this year's election, the goalposts have moved.

 François Hollande's Socialist Party is in tatters after a disastrous term that has made him one of the least popular presidents in the country's history. ||||| Article réservé aux abonnés

 Intentions de vote au premier tour, selon l’enquête Ipsos-Sopra Steria et « Le Monde » réalisée les 12 et 13 avril. Le Monde

 Inédite et déroutante depuis le début, la campagne présidentielle 2017 le restera donc jusqu’au bout. A dix jours du premier tour de scrutin, dimanche 23 avril, l’on se retrouve dans une situation sans précédent depuis un demi-siècle : quatre candidats – François Fillon, Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron et Jean-Luc Mélenchon – ont la possibilité de se qualifier pour le second tour.

 Tel est le principal enseignement de la dernière enquête réalisée par Ipsos-Sopra Steria pour Le Monde auprès d’un échantillon de 1 509 personnes inscrites sur les listes électorales (dont 927 certaines d’aller voter et exprimant une intention de vote) interrogées par Internet les 12 et 13 avril. Compte tenu de « l’intervalle de confiance », autrement dit de la marge d’erreur de l’ordre de 2,7 points pour un échantillon de cette taille et pour des scores de plus ou moins 20 % d’intentions de vote, ces quatre candidats sont actuellement dans un mouchoir de poche, sans qu’il soit encore possible de déterminer les deux finalistes.

 L’indécision des électeurs

 Toutes les enquêtes en témoignent depuis des semaines. Le niveau d’indécision des Français est nettement plus élevé que lors des précédents scrutins présidentiels, exception faite de 2002. Actuellement, les deux tiers d’entre eux seulement (66 %) ont l’intention d’aller voter le 23 avril. La tentation de l’abstention touche particulièrement les plus jeunes électeurs : 55 % des 18-24 ans ont l’intention d’aller voter, 60 % des 25-34 ans. Tandis que près des trois quarts des plus de 70 ans assurent qu’ils iront voter. Ce niveau d’indécision n’a pas diminué depuis la précédente enquête d’Ipsos, réalisée une semaine plus tôt.

 L’effritement des « favoris »

 Evolution des intentions de vote au premier tour, selon l’enquête Ipsos-Sopra Steria et « Le Monde » réalisée les 12 et 13 avril. Le Monde

 Depuis la fin du mois de février, la candidate du Front national et celui d’En marche ! faisaient nettement la course en tête, devançant leurs concurrents de 7 à 10 points en mars et encore de 6 points début avril. Leur érosion dans les derniers jours est sensible et parallèle. Ainsi Marine Le Pen recueille désormais 22 % des intentions de vote, soit 2 points de moins que lors de l’enquête des 7-9 avril et 5 points de moins qu’il y a un mois. Depuis la mi-mars, elle a perdu du terrain dans la plupart des strates de l’électorat, y compris parmi les électeurs qui se déclarent proches du Front national où elle est en recul de 6 points (86 % contre 92 % à la mi-mars). En revanche, elle consolide sa position parmi ses électeurs de 2012 : 90 % ont l’intention de revoter pour elle (en progression de 7 points par rapport à la mi-mars). En outre, elle est la candidate qui bénéficie des intentions de vote les plus déterminées : 85 % des Français qui déclarent vouloir voter pour elle assurent que leur choix est définitif. |||||
What is a summary?

– Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and independent Emmanuel Macron have been drawing the lion's share of attention as the French presidential election nears (the first round is April 23), but a leftist candidate who has used a hologram of himself to stump at campaign rallies is now gaining some traction. In what the Washington Post calls a "truly unprecedented campaign," Jean-Luc Melenchon has seemingly emerged out of thin air as the Unbowed France candidate, with added support from the French Communist Party—and he "gives shivers to banks, businesspeople, and the bourgeoisie," per the New York Times. Melenchon, once considered a fringe candidate no one really paid mind to, is running on an anti-capitalism platform, with a mission to dismantle the monarchy-styled governmental system implemented by Charles de Gaulle in the late '50s. Melenchon is now ahead of mainstream conservative Francois Fillon in the polls and only a couple of points behind Macron and Le Pen. He's been speaking to the younger set with videos on YouTube and a video game in which players go after bankers and the head of the IMF. What makes this year's election in France notable is that the slightly left-leaning Socialists and slightly right-leaning Republicans aren't the ones duking it out for the country's top seat. And the showdown between Le Pen and Melenchon, whom the Times says is sometimes depicted as a "French Bernie Sanders," even sounds strikingly like the one witnessed between Sanders and Donald Trump, with both candidates vying for voters who want to decimate the status quo, though with different tactics: Le Pen is tapping into nationalism, while Melenchon is pushing help for the poor. (Facebook is going after false accounts before the election.)


10 worst cities for spring allergies

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 If you think your seasonal allergies this spring are worse than ever, you just may live in Louisville, Ky.

 That's the city that tops the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's list of 2014 Spring Allergy Capitals, the most challenging places to live if pollen, mold and other airborne allergens make you say, "Achoo!" Louisville moves up to the top of the list from the No. 5 spot last year, due to higher than average pollen counts, high use of allergy medications by people who live in the region and too few allergy specialists in the area.

 “The river provides a basin affect that traps allergens … plus the temperate climate and precipitation encourages plenty of pollen growth for patients out here,” said Louisville allergist Dr. Gerald Lee. His allergy clinic has seen a 20 percent increase in visits over the past three years.

 Dr. Nancy Snyderman, chief medical editor for NBC News, says a long growing season and new growth combine to make this spring especially sneezy, stuffy, and sniffly for the estimated 40 million Americans who suffer from seasonal allergies.

 “Certainly there's evidence that because plants are growing in places that they haven't before, that the growing season is longer, which means there is a chance for a longer exposure to plants that might cause problems and it could make that worse,” Snyderman said.

 Seasonal allergies include symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, itchy eyes, runny nose and scratchy throat. Snyderman says most allergy sufferers can feel better by avoiding the allergens. She recommends that people run early in the morning when the dew keeps the pollen from releasing into the air, for example.

 “Most people can avoid the allergies by avoiding the problem,” she said. “[A]voiding a lot of outdoor activity when the pollen is stirred up in the air [can help].”

 Here's a list of the top 10 cities — interestingly, all in the South — that are the worst offenders:

 1. Louisville, Ky.

 2. Memphis, Tenn.

 3. Baton Rouge, La.

 4. Oklahoma City

 5. Jackson, Miss.

 6. Chattanooga, Tenn.

 7. Dallas

 8. Richmond, Va.

 9. Birmingham, Ala.

 10. McAllen, Texas

 Find the complete list here.

 TODAY contributor Meghan Holohan contributed to this report. Follow Joy Jernigan on Twitter. ||||| Allergies are diseases of the immune system that cause an overreaction to substances called "allergens." Allergies are grouped by the kind of trigger, time of year or where symptoms appear on the body: indoor and outdoor allergies (also called "hay fever," "seasonal," "perennial" or "nasal" allergies), food allergies, latex allergies, insect allergies, skin allergies and eye allergies. People who have allergies can live healthy and active lives.

 What are Allergies | What Causes Allergies | Diagnosis | Treatment | Prevention | |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Allergy experts have unveiled the worst cities in the US for those with spring allergies, and Louisville, Ky., is the place you most want to avoid if you're an allergy sufferer. It moves up from No. 5 last year to the top spot this year. "The river provides a basin effect that traps allergens … plus the temperate climate and precipitation encourages plenty of pollen growth for patients out here," a local allergist tells Today. Factors assessed in the list include the amount of pollen and mold in the air, the number of allergy meds used per patient, and the number of allergy specialists per patient, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America notes. The top 10: Louisville, Ky. Memphis, Tenn. Baton Rouge, La. Oklahoma City, Okla. Jackson, Miss. Chattanooga, Tenn. Dallas, Texas Richmond, Va. Birmingham, Ala. McAllen, Texas Click for the complete list, or find out why this year's allergy season may be particularly bad.